Waiting Room
by Pie56
Summary: The squad comes together in the middle of a hospital waiting room. A/O.
1. The Call

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone…hmm so sad.**

Author's note- Okay so hopefully this is better than my last late night story. This chapter is really short but hopefully the next one will be longer but I'm not sure. I've had this idea rolling around in my head for a few days and I thought I would give it a try. Let me know what you think. Thanks guys-Pie.

'_Ah, Home at last.'_ Alex thought as she walked through the door of her apartment of two years. Not that it meant much. For the next two or three hours all she would be doing is paperwork, which is the same thing she would be doing if she was still at her office, but she would rather do paperwork while sitting in her home office with some nice music a few candles, the works, instead of a cramped office with harsh lighting. Plus at home she could get out of her work clothes and into a nice pair of pajamas.

After walking in the door she kicked her shoes off haphazardly not really caring where they landed as long as they weren't on her feet anymore she didn't really care. _'Note to self'_ She thought _'Don't go online shopping after twenty gajillion hours of paperwork, just because a pair of shoes is cute doesn't mean they're comfy.'_

She moved into her kitchen and took her tea kettle from the top of her stove and brought it to her sink refilling it with fresh water before replacing it on the stove and turning the burner on. There was just something about having a nice hot cup of jasmine tea that helped her relax and focus; plus it didn't keep her awake like coffee would have.

She left the kitchen and made her way to the master bedroom. Once inside she started shedding her clothes, starting with her suit jacket and ending with her dreaded panty hoes; she was convinced that whoever invented those awful things was in fact the devil.

After undressing she threw the pile of clothes she had just stepped out of in the hamper, besides the suit jacket which she hung up making a mental note to bring it to the dry cleaners the next day. She walked over to her bureau and got a pair of pajama pants and a cami.

By the time she was done changing she could hear the kettle whistling. She walked back into the kitchen and turned the burner off. Then she walked over to her cabinet and stood up on her tiptoes to reach her favorite mug. It was one that Olivia had given her the Christmas before and it had the Miranda rights on it. Every time she saw it, it made her smile.

Once her cup was full and she was comfortable in her pajamas and slippers she moved down the hall to her little home office that was actually just a spare bedroom that she had redone with the help of Olivia, Casey, Serena, Abbie, Monique, and Liz. It amazed her, it took less time to paint and put the room together than it did for all of them to pick out colors and furniture.

She sat down in her chair and pulled a stack of paperwork out of her attaché case. She pulled open her top drawer pulled out a pen and a remote. She clicked on her docking station before digging into her work.

Her estimation was right. Almost three hours later she got up, her legs hand fallen asleep and were a little wobbly because she had been sitting funny. She went into the kitchen washed her mug out and dried it before returning it to its place in her cabinet.

Once everything was in its place she decided that she would just go to bed. It wasn't horribly late but she never knew when they would get pulled into a new case and extra sleep was always welcome. She walked back down the hall to her bedroom. She walked over to her bedside table and slid her glasses off before placing them gently on the table new to her alarm clock. Then she walked across the room to the master bathroom. She went in brushed her teeth and hair before grabbing some lotion that she put on every night before she went to sleep.

She walked back to her bedroom and pulled back her sheets, this morning had been a very rare morning where she actually made her bed, usually the morning was so rushed she either didn't have time or she forgot completely. She climbed into bed and rearranged all the pillows and blankets until everything was exactly how she wanted it. When everything was in its place she laid down and not five minutes later she was out like a light.

She was suddenly awoken less than a half hour later to her cell phone ringing. At first she didn't realize it was her phone, she had just started to dream when the phone started ringing and it took her a minute to realize that the ringing had nothing to do with the dream. She lifted her head and tried to shake the sleep from her eyes. _'If we have a case…' _Her thoughts trailed off because honestly she couldn't come up with a plausible threat, she loved her job too much to ever give it up over a few late nights.

She reached out and grabbed her phone from the bedside table. She looked at the caller ID before flipping the phone open and bringing it to her ear.

"Hey El." She said her voice was husky from the sleep.

"_Alex." _Elliot's voice was trembling and Alex immediately perked up in bed.

"Elliot? What's wrong?"

"_Something happened."_

"Elliot you're scaring me. Just tell me what's going on."

"_Listen Al, I can't really talk right now but you need to come down here."_

"Where? To the precinct?"

"_No. Um…Alex we're at the hospital."_

"What?" Alex was really starting to get scared, every possible scenario was running through her head. "What hospital?"

"_Bellevue, I can't really talk the doctor is here and we need to answer some questions, just get down here as soon as you can. Okay?"_

"Yeah, alright I'm on my way."

A/N- Sorry about the cliffhanger…who is it? You'll find out soon, I promise.


	2. What Happened?

**Disclaimer: My plot bunnies really seem to like these characters but I don't own them.**

Author's note- Here you are, chapter two is complete. I really hope you guys like it. Thanks for the reviews. Tonight was a good night, my muse and my plot bunnies seem to be getting along so this chapter came pretty easily. I have not told anybody about the content of this chapter, including one of my best friends who threatened to make an angry mob with all of y'all and tie me to a chair until I updated, so hopefully this chapter lives up to it's expectations because frankly she scares me a little and I don't doubt her abilities. Oh and sorry for rambling…go read, enjoy. I hope you do at least.

Olivia's head was in a haze. She didn't understand what was happening, everything had been fine and then all of the sudden…She had completely missed all the warning signs.

'_How could you be so stupid? You're a cop for god sake. You're trained to look for things, to handle things like this, and now look where you are, the god damn hospital Olivia. The fucking hospital.' _ She thought at herself.

The doctors were asking her questions but she didn't really hear them, on some level she knew she must have because she could hear herself answering them, telling them what had happened, how she had allowed them to end up here.

They had just been out having a nice dinner. Laughing, enjoying themselves, just like they always did. It had become a ritual at least twice a month they would go out to dinner and try to get away from the nasty world of crime and hate that usually consumed their day. It was always a nice chance for them to bond. The squad was the only family she had left, after her mother died…

"Ms. Benson?"

"What?" She must have drifted off, she just couldn't believe this was happening.

"What's his name?"

"Donald, Donald Cragen. He's my captain." She watched as they wheeled him through two swinging doors into a separate room. The doors had little glass windows on them so she could still see him.

"Okay, it's okay." The nurse tried to reassure her. "I just need to get some information from you alright?"

"Yeah, okay."

"How old is he?"

"Fifty-nine."

"What happened?" The nurse asked gently.

"We were just sitting there having a nice dinner, his shoulder had been bugging him but we didn't think anything of it. He had to knock down a door the other day, usually he doesn't do things like that but it was a big case and we needed all the help we could get, we just thought that that was why it was bugging him, and then all of the sudden he started grabbing at his chest." She paused. "I should have noticed, I'm trained to notice things like this, how could I miss this?"

"Stop." The nurse told her. "This is not your fault okay?"

"Okay." Olivia said even though she wasn't really sure she believed it.

"Did anyone give him anything?"

"Uh, yeah I gave him some aspirin."

"Good. That's very good." The nurse reached out and gentle laid a hand on Olivia's shoulder trying to get her attention, Olivia hadn't turned away from the glass windows the entire time they had been talking. "I'm going to go give this information to the doctors. Okay?"

"Yeah, alright."

"Did you call anybody yet?"

"Yeah, I called my partner while we were in the bus, he said he'd take care of it and make sure everybody got here."

"Okay. Stick here, I'll make sure one of the doctors comes out to talk to you once he's stable. Alright?"

"Okay."

With that the nurse pushed through the double doors and started talking to the doctors and other nurses who were already in there.

Olivia just stood there, watching helplessly as they tried to save the only father she had ever known.

"Liv?"

She turned as she heard her name being called out, and she saw Elliot and Kathy Stabler running towards her.

"Hey." Elliot said as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Hey." She said back.

"What happened? Has anyone come and talked with you yet?" Elliot asked as he and Olivia pulled away from their embrace.

"Yeah, I talked with one of the nurses. They think he had a heart attack." No sooner had the words left her mouth when she suddenly broke down, all of the night's events finally catching up with her.

Kathy wrapped her arms around Olivia. "Shh, it's okay. He's going to be fine, he's a fighter, you know that. How else could he put up with you and Elliot everyday?" She said earning a tearful chuckle from Olivia.

"Hey, I'm gonna finish making all those calls." Elliot leaned over and whispered to his wife.

"Alright, I think we're gonna go sit over there." She told him and pointed to the small waiting area.

"Okay."

"Liv, come on let's go sit down alright."

"Okay."

Kathy and Olivia made their way over to the chairs. They sat side by side, Olivia continued to cry for a while and Kathy wrapped her arms around her and tried to comfort her as best she as could. It was times like this that being a mother of five seemed to come in handy.

It didn't take long for familiar faces to start showing up.

A/N- I know It's not who y'all thought it would be, this was my original idea. After reading your guy's reviews I thought about changing it but then I thought that it would be better to go with my first instincts, I can always write about Olivia getting hurt later, so tell me what you think. Thanks-Pie.


	3. Arrival

**Disclaimer: Do you think if I cried a little and used my best puppy dog eyes I could get Dick to give me these characters? No me neither. They're not mine.**

Author's note- Yay for chapter three! Okay so I was trying to go in order with updating but my muse was all like "Guess what?" and I was like "What?" and then she was all like "I'm going to bring some inspiration for Waiting Room." As much as I told her that we should work on the other ones too she was just too stubborn so I guess this is it for tonight. I hope you all like it, please review. Thanks- Pie.

After hanging up with Elliot, Alex haphazardly threw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. She wanted to get to the hospital fast but at the same time she didn't think showing up with pajama pants that had little fishys on them would be the best idea. After getting dressed she grabbed her cell and her keys and made a mad dash towards the door. It seemed as if her imagination was getting more and more creative with every second that passed.

Her first thought was to take her car but after thinking about it on her way down the stairs she realized that that probably wasn't the greatest idea. She knew that she was frazzled and she didn't want to be the cause of an accident and end up in the hospital herself. Plus she knew that if she drove she would end speeding like crazy trying to get there in a hurry and getting pulled over also didn't seem like the best scenario.

She kept trying to hail a cab but none would stop for her, she was starting to get frustrated. Finally her doorman walked over and did it for her.

She smiled at him and gave him a friendly hug. "Thanks Ray."

"No problem Alex, now go, obviously there's something important waiting for you."

"Alright, I'll talk to you later Ray. Thanks again."

Ray just smiled and opened the cab door for Alex. After she climbed in he closed it. She told the cabbie where to go and the sat back for the ride.

Bellevue wasn't the closest hospital to her so she didn't expect to be the first person there. Then she started thinking who out of the squad was the closest to Bellevue, which didn't really help much because then she realized that she had gone to bed pretty early and that normal people would probably have still been up doing things and that anyone could have been close to that hospital. The only thing she really knew at this point was that Elliot was okay, seeing as he was the one that called her.

Then she started thinking about why Elliot had called her. The thoughts she had been trying so hard to push out of her head suddenly broke through like a flood. _'Oh my god, it's Liv isn't it. She got hurt; someone shot her, or stabbed her, or worse. Why would anyone want to hurt Liv? She's so sweet and kind and caring, she's never done anything to deserve this! All she ever does is try to help people and this is what she gets? How is that fair?'_ She asked herself. _'Well, it's not.'_ She answered herself. It went on like this the entire way to the hospital, she would think of something or ask herself a question and then she would answer it. It was like she had two little Alex's in her head battling for dominance. One was all rational and quite frankly a little harsh and rude. The other was all caring and gentle. It was like her head was having a fight to the death with her heart.

She was pulled from her inner ramblings when the cabbie turned around to let her know they had reached their destination. She quickly shoved a hundred in his hand and got out of the car, running as fast as she could into the hospital. When she got inside she ran over to the first nurse's station she could find.

"Hi, my name is Alexandra Cabot, I'm an ADA for Manhattan Special Victims Unit-"

The nurse was an older black woman in dark red scrubs, she cut Alex off. "Of course dear, you're with the rest of them?"

"Them?" Alex asked.

"Yes the group of detectives and lawyers that keep coming in from Manhattan SVU."

"Yeah that would be my…" She thought, they were like family to her but technically they weren't related, she didn't want to say they were family and give the nurse the wrong idea. "…people." She finally said, thinking back to Grey's Anatomy and thinking about how Meredith described her people.

"Well they were in that waiting area over there earlier." She pointed behind Alex to the small waiting area Kathy and Olivia had been in earlier. "But there are so many of you we moved them to a family room that is usually only used by hospital personal. Under the circumstances we thought it was the best idea."

"Circumstances?" Alex asked trying to pump the nurse for information.

"Well the family room is on the same floor as the surgery wing so the doctors can keep everyone updated easily, plus it will fit everyone without you guys having to deal with anybody else."

"Oh, well that's nice I guess, can you give me directions?"

"Here dear, why don't I take you up there myself?"

"Okay, thanks."

Alex followed the nurse into the elevator and waited until they had reached the right floor. When they got off the elevator the nurse led Alex over to a door.

"Here we are dear. My name is Mary, I'll come by later if I get any news."

"Thank you." Alex said and the nurse walked off.

'_Alright, here we go.'_ Alex thought as she pushed the door to the family room open. When she walked in everyone turned to look at her and she quickly started taking inventory. Fin, Munch, Liz, Casey, Monique, Chester, Huang, she sighed a breathe of relief when she saw Serena but her eyes kept searching, Abbie, Anita Van Buren, Alex Eames, Gordon, Jack McCoy, There were a few people she didn't recognize and a few that she could sort of place from story's the squad had told her like Brian Cassidy, she also saw Melinda. She was starting to get more and more panicked realizing that there weren't many more people to check off her list. Finally a few people shifted, realizing that what she was doing and wanting to give her a better view of the room, in the far corner she saw Olivia sitting in a chair, her face was red and you could tell she had been crying, Kathy still had an arm wrapped around her.

Alex's heart instantly fluttered at the new found information that Olivia was okay, at least physically. At first she wanted to find Elliot and kick his ass for scaring her so much but then she realized that not only would that give away the fact that she had a crush on Olivia but also that it wasn't Elliot's fault he just wanted to make sure everyone got called.

Her relief was cut short when she continued her inventory to find that the only people missing off her list were El and Captain Cragen, and since she already knew that Elliot was fine that only meant one thing.

"Oh my god." She let out in a soft breath when it finally dawned on her. Serena watched as the realization slipped across her best friends face.

"Lex?" Serena got up and walked over to her friend.

"It's Captain Cragen isn't it?"

Serena reached out and took Alex's hand. "Yeah it is."

Alex nodded and pulled Serena with her towards Olivia. Alex sat down on the other side of Olivia and Serena sat down next to Alex.

"What happened?" Alex asked.

"They're not really sure at this point, but they think it was a heart attack. He'll probably need surgery, which is one of the reasons they moved us here. The nurse that I talked to when we came in, Mary, said that a doctor would come in and tell us what was happening in a while, when they know for sure what happened." Olivia told her.

"Okay." Alex said as she reached over and took Olivia's hand in her own. "Then I guess we wait."

A/N-P.S. I'm sure y'all already know this but Stephanie March signed on for ten new episodes of SVU come fall and NBC is getting closer to making deals with Mariska and Chris, so keep your fingers crossed!


	4. A Little Space

**Disclaimer: I do own Dr. Vandyken and Mary but not anyone else.**

Author's note- I had a burst of inspiration for this one so here ya go. I hope you enjoy, maybe leave a review, it doesn't take long and it will make you feel great. Thanks-Pie.

Alex sat in between Olivia and Serena, her left hand was intertwined with Olivia's right and her right was intertwined with Serena's left. They just sat there, nobody in the room was really talking and the only noise that could be heard was that of a flat screen TV that was in the middle of the room. Nobody was really watching it but the background noise was better than the deafening silence.

Every once in a while the door would open and everybody would quickly look to see if the doctor had finally come to give them some news on how Cragen was doing. So far though there was no such luck. People continued to stream into the room which quickly started to run out of chairs, so some of the hospital personal and a few of the cops went to get more.

Mary had come in a couple times to check on everyone and see how they were doing, but she still didn't have any news; just that the doctors had started to narrow down what they thought may have happened and that the Captain was stable. They also knew that an O.R had been booked for him in the event that he would need surgery, so it looked like all the bases were covered.

Everybody looked up when they saw Elliot walk in. He walked to the middle of the room and cleared his throat to get everybody's attention.

"Alright guys, I just talked with Mary and she said that a doctor is coming in a minute or two to talk with us. It seems as though they know what happened and are just working out the finer details of how they plan to fix it. I think right now it would be a good idea to start moving all of our chairs around. It would probably be best if we made a circle so that way we can all hear what's happening, Chester and Fin are bringing more chairs in so everybody should be able to sit. So," He stopped and took a deep breath. "Uh, that's all I have right now." He gave a small nod before walking over to the rest of the SVU squad and taking a seat next to Kathy. He gave Alex a sad smile when he realized that she had made it there, before turning his attention back to Kathy and asking her how everything had been going.

No sooner had everyone finished moving their chairs around when a woman in light blue scrubs and tennis shoes walk into the room.

"Wow you guys are organized." She said when she saw the circle they had formed. "My name is Charlie VanDyken, I'm the head doctor on Captain Cragen's case." She paused to make sure she had everybody's attention before continuing. "Okay so we have narrowed everything down and have determined that Captain Cragen has had a heart attack."

"What does that mean?" Chester asked.

"Well basically a heart attack occurs when blood is unable to flow properly through the heart muscle, and when blood is unable to flow through the heart it makes it very difficult to flow to the rest of the body. What we have determined is that your Captain has a block in his right coronary artery, which is why he had the heart attack."

"What is your plan to fix it?" Elliot inquired.

"Well we're going to go into surgery and remove the blockage and then do some repair work."

"Repair work?" Casey asked.

"Yes. Blockages like this can cause damage to the surrounding areas of the heart."

"How much damage?" Serena implored.

"We won't really be able to know until we start the surgery; it really just depends on how big the block is."

"How can this happen? Captain Cragen always seemed to be healthy enough." Munch told her.

"Honestly it's hard to know for sure. It could do with the fact that he's a recovering alcoholic or stress or it could run in his family. Sometimes we don't have a cause, it's sad but it happens and all we can do is try to fix it the best ways we know how and in his case that mean doing this surgery. At this point he is stable and this surgery looks hopeful, the aspirin he was given at the time of the heart attack probably saved his life." She paused to give everybody time to ingest the new information they had been given before continuing on. "I have about thirty minutes until the surgery starts so I am more than happy to answer any questions any of you have."

"Can we see him?" Olivia looked up to meet her eyes. It was the first time she had said anything since Alex had first gotten their. The look in her eyes was sad and desperate; it broke Alex's heart to see the normally strong detective broken down so much.

The doctor looked Olivia in the eye. "Right now they are prepping him for surgery, but we will make sure to let you know when we move him to the O.R you can come see him."

Olivia gave a small nod before going back to being silent. Alex squeezed her hand reassuringly and Olivia looked up at her.

"He'll be okay. I know it, don't worry too much okay?" Alex said softly so only Olivia could hear.

"Okay." Olivia said back.

They all sat there for the next half hour or so. Some people asked Dr. VanDyken questions but mostly they just sat there waiting for when they would be able to see him. The doctor sat in the room with them even after everybody was done with the questions. It had soon become very quiet and they all jumped a little when the Dr. VanDyken's pager went off.

She looked down to read the screen before addressing the group. "Alright, they are going to roll him out now. He'll come down this hallway and go through the doors at the end of the hallway, so I'll have the surgical team stop so you all come out and see him." She got up and started walking out motioning for them to follow her. They made their way out into the hall and a few minutes later a few nurses rolled Captain Cragen out.

He was asleep and there were IVs in his arms and a oxygen mask over his face. Everybody stayed up against the wall to give the squad a few minutes alone with him before they had to bring him into surgery.

Elliot, Fin, Munch, Monique, Chester, Casey, Olivia and Alex surrounded the gurney, four people on each side.

Olivia reached out and took one of the captain's hands in her own. "Hey Cap. We're all here, okay? Don't worry about us we're okay. We just want you to know that we love you and we want you to get better." She whispered trying very hard to keep her voice from cracking.

For the next few minutes they sat there and talked with him, letting him know that everyone else was fine and that they just wanted him to focus on getting better. Finally Dr. VanDyken came over.

"I'm sorry guys but we have to take him now."

They all backed up slowly and Olivia reluctantly let go of his hand.

"I'll keep you all updated, I promise." The doctor told the group before nodding to the nurses and rolling the Captain down the hall to the O.R.

People started to file back into the room, but the squad waited until they could no longer see him down the hall before going back in.

Olivia turned to Alex and Huang. "I think I'm gonna go for a walk, try to clear my head a bit."

"Yeah, sure. We'll come get you if we hear anything." George said.

Olivia nodded before turning and walking down the hall. Alex really wanted to go with her, make sure she was okay, but she knew she couldn't.

"It's okay Alex. You just need to give her some space to think, a lot has happened tonight for her. She'll be okay. If she's not back in a half hour you can go look for her."

Alex took a deep breath before looking at him. "You're right. Why don't we go back in there and wait for a while."

"That sounds like a good idea." He said. Then they turned and joined the rest of the group in the hospital living room.

'_This is going to be one long night.' _Alex thought as she settled back into her chair.

P.S- I just got news that Chris and Mariska are for sure coming back for the next season of SVU.


	5. Sharing Stories

**Disclaimer: I own a suitcase which I should be packing, but I don't own the characters.**

Author's note- My friend invited me to go to camp with her so I'll be gone next week from Monday to Saturday. For those of you who are also reading 'Blind' I will try to update before I go but I have been working on this chapter for a while now and I want to make sure it's perfect so I might not be able to post it until I get back. I really hope you all like this chapter I really wanted to put some emotion into it so here you are. Thanks-Pie.

Alex opened her eyes then lifted her head off her neighbors shoulder. She turned to look at him slightly confused.

"You fell asleep." George told her.

"How long?"

He knew that the real question was how long had Olivia been gone for. "A while, thirty or forty minutes."

She rubbed her eyes trying to get rid of the tiredness in her eyes. "I think I'll go walk around for a while, see if I can wake myself up."

"Sure." He said with a slight sarcastic undertone and a sly looking smile.

"What?" She asked as she stood and stretched.

"Oh come on Alex, we both know you're going to go look for Olivia."

"So what if I am? I want to make sure she's okay. You saw how she looked, this is tearing her up, Cragen is like a dad to her. I can't imagine how she must be feeling."

"I know. I know that she and Cragen are close, and I know that she's hurting right now and I know that she needs someone to lean on. I actually happen to think that you are the best person for her to lean on right now."

"You do?"

"Listen Alex, I'm not a complete idiot. None of us are stupid or blind. I see the way you two look at each other, we all do. The only people who haven't caught on yet are you and Liv."

"What are you talking about George?"

"Oh. My. God. Alexandra Cabot!" Serena who appeared to have been asleep practically yelled at her. "Everyone of us here know that you are hopelessly in love with her and she is head over heals for you."

Alex looked to George for confirmation. "Yeah, that was what I was going to say just less loud and harsh." He turned to look at Serena.

"Hey I've been her best friend for like ever; the only way to get things done with her is to yell a little." Serena told him.

"I'm still here." Alex said.

"Yes but you shouldn't be. Go, get out of here. Go find Olivia. Tell her that you love her and she'll tell you that she loves you too and you'll live happily ever after." Serena smiled at her.

"Serena, you and George are delirious. Olivia does not love me okay?"

"And you?"

"I, I…I uh I don't know, but I'm sure she has no feeling for me like _that_. We're friends, that's it."

Serena got up and walked to the middle of the room, she gave a short shrill whistle to get everybody's attention. "Hello everyone, for those of you who don't know me I'm Serena. Not only do I work with her but I also happen to be best friends with Alexandra Cabot."

"What is she doing?" Alex whispered to George who just shrugged.

"With a show of hands how many of you know Alex?" Serena asked. Almost everybody put their hand up. "And how many of you know Olivia?" A few more hands went up. "Out of those who know the two, how many of you think Alex loves Olivia?" Everybody kept their hand up.

"Serena?!?" Alex hissed at her.

"Lex chill. Okay and how many of you think Olivia loves Alex?" Still nobody put their hand down. "Thank you everyone, that concludes this poll." She walked back over to Alex and George.

"What the hell was that Serena?" Alex asked.

"That was me proving a point to you. The only way to get through to you sometimes is by doing things like this so you're welcome."

"I can't believe you sometimes you know that?"

"Listen Alex I would have loved to sit here and have a big heart to heart girly love fest where we discuss our emotions until you see my point, but firstly I'm tired and ornery and secondly Liv needs you right now, so instead of sitting here arguing with us go make sure she's okay, because believe it or not she loves you and she needs you right now."

Alex looked at her. As much as her head wanted to sit and argue her heart knew she was right so she just gave a small nod before walking out of the room.

When she got out to the hallway she tried to think of where Olivia would go, then she saw Mary.

"Hey Mary."

"Miss Cabot. What can I help you with dear?"

"Please call me Alex. I was wondering, if there was somewhere where I could go that would be totally secluded?"

"Looking for Detective Benson dear?"

"Does everybody know about this besides me?"

"Let me tell you something dear, everyday I watch people come in and out of this hospital. I have seen 'the look' more times than I can count. You my dear have that look and so does Detective Benson. I saw the way you looked at her tonight, I may be old my dear but I am not a blind woman." She offered Alex a knowing smile. "If I were you I would go down the hall, turn left when you get to the soda machine then make another right when you get to the small café. There is a small secluded hallway that has gurneys along the wall. That's where I told Detective Benson to go as well."

"Thanks Mary."

"It's not a problem dear, now go."

Alex gave her a small smile before heading off in the direction Mary had told her to go. Mary was right about the small hallway being secluded. It was dark, there were gurneys pushed up against the far wall and Alex could make out Olivia's silhouette sitting on one of them with her back against the wall. Alex couldn't tell if she was awake or asleep, her eyes were closed but her breathing seemed too heavy for a sleeping person.

She walked over and slid onto the same gurney and laid her head back against the wall next to Olivia's. "Hey." She said softly.

Olivia opened her eyes and turned to look at Alex. "Hi."

"I wanted to come make sure you were okay, but if you want me to leave I will."

"No, stay." Olivia said, then reached over and grabbed Alex's hand.

They sat like that for a good twenty minutes before either of them said anything. Finally Olivia broke the silence. "I'm scared."

Alex nodded. "I know, I am too."

"I don't know what I'd do if we lost him."

"Hey, don't talk like that. We're not going to lose him, okay? He's going to be fine, he's a fighter, you know that."

"I know. It's just…" She took a deep breath. "You didn't see it Alex, the look on his face, he just looked so…so lost. He didn't even look like himself. He looked scared and unsure. I have never seen him that way. It's just so scary to see someone that usually has it all together look so broken, so fragile."

"Can I tell you something?"

"Yeah, sure."

"My father uh had a heart attack. I was seventeen. We had gone out, he promised to take me to lunch because he had been on a business trip all week and we hadn't been able to see each other. We were walking out of the restaurant when it happened, and I'll never forget the look on his face, it was like you said, he looked lost and scared and I didn't know how to handle it. Somebody inside the restaurant called an ambulance. He coded on the way there and no matter how many times they tried to revive him they just couldn't get his heart to start beating again. He died, in the back of that ambulance while I sat there holding his hand." She hadn't even realized that she was crying until she felt Olivia reach over and wipe away her tears.

"I'm sorry Alex."

"It's okay, that was a long time ago, I'm not going to tell you that I'm totally over it because I'm not but I know what you're feeling right now and I will listen if you need to talk."

"Thanks Alex, you have no idea how much this helps."

"It's not a problem Liv. Anytime you need me just say the word."

"Hey Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"Would it be okay if we just sat here for a little while?"

"There's nowhere I'd rather be."


	6. Playing Matchmaker

**Disclaimer: So…they're not mine, awkward. Anyways uh go read.**

Author's note- Is anybody else having problems with this site lately because every time I log on it seems like something new is wrong. Oh well I'm sure they'll get it fixed. So anyways, two updates in a day. One on Blind and the other one here, yay me. I hope you guys like them. Let me know what you think. Pie.

They had been sitting there just listening to the sounds of the hospital around them for a little over twenty minutes when Olivia took a deep breath. Alex looked over at her.

"You okay?" She asked tenderly.

"Yeah, I was just thinking; I'm tired of sitting here but I'm not ready to go back yet."

"What do you suggest we do then?"

"Hmm?" She thought it over for a minute before deciding. "Follow me." Olivia said then got up pulling Alex with her.

Alex didn't know where they were going but she didn't really care. She would follow Olivia anywhere. Olivia pulled her back down the hall to a set of elevators. Alex raised her eyebrows slightly.

"Just wait, you'll see." Olivia told her.

They got in the elevator and Olivia pushed the button for the ninth floor. Alex didn't say anything but her curiosity was peaked at this point. The elevator doors opened slowly and they climbed out. Olivia took them down a few halls until they reached they're destination.

"The maternity ward?" Alex asked.

"Yeah I like it here." She pulled them over to a set of chairs before continuing.

"So do I." Alex agreed.

"It seems like the only good place in a hospital." She paused. "I really really really hate hospitals." She put a lot of emphasis on the last 'really'.

"So do I." Alex said again.

"Sometimes when we come here on a case and it gets really bad I just come and sit up here."

"I can see why, it's nice up here, in fact I think that room right there" Alex pointed down the hall. "That's the room my nephew was born in."

"How old is he?"

"Fifteen months as of Tuesday last week."

"What's his name?"

"Fletcher Alexander Cabot."

"I take it the Alexander is after you?"

"Yes, and my father, I'm the middle of three children and after two girls my parents didn't know if they'd have a boy to carry on my father's name so they named me Alexandra. A few years later though my mom got pregnant again and they did have a boy my little brother Charles who is named after my grandfather instead. Charles is Fletch's dad."

Olivia smiled. "I can tell by the way you talk about them that you're close with your family, that's really nice Alex."

"Yeah, they can be crazy but I'm stuck with them so I figured I might as well just go along with it. Still it would be nice to have somebody to come home to at night."

The sexual tension in the long hallway was starting to drive Alex crazy but neither she nor Olivia said anything about it, and since Serena's little 'poll' Alex couldn't think straight. Olivia could feel it too but unlike Alex, Olivia didn't have even the slightest insight into Alex's feelings for her; that's not totally true, Elliot, Munch and Fin were always bugging her about it but she chose not to trust their judgment based off of prior experiences.

"Why don't we go back and see if there's any news." Alex suggested, trying to clear the air that she felt was in a haze due to the proximity of the detective.

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea." Olivia agreed, glad for the brief distraction.

They started to walk back down the hall before Olivia stopped. "Um, actually I think I might head to the bathroom real quick and wash my face."

"Okay, I'll meet you back in the waiting room."

"Sounds good." Then they parted ways, Olivia going towards the bathroom and Alex heading in the opposite direction to the waiting room.

It didn't take Alex long to get back, she paused outside the door wondering how bad Serena was going to be when she walked in. With a sigh she pushed the door open. She walked over to where the rest of the squad was sitting.

"So?" Serena asked.

"So what?" Alex responded.

"You know what."

"I have absolutely no idea what you could possibly be talking about Serena, are you feeling okay?"

"Alexandra don't be a smart ass, I have your mother on speed dial and I will use it. So Olivia…"

"Olivia needed a friend; she doesn't need me to bug her with my crap."

"Did you not witness the poll? She loves you too, you wouldn't be bugging her you'd be making her happy."

"I did see your little stunt but I have to say I'm inclined to ignore it."

"Well why?" Serena demanded, pouting slightly.

"Because, I love you Rena, but the last time I trusted one of your little stunts I ended up with green hair, for a month."

"That was not my fault and you need to get over it."

"Get over what?" A voice asked from behind them.

Alex jumped slightly at the sound of Olivia's voice but managed to cover nicely. "She dyed my hair green once."

"It was your fault, you should have known better than to let me dye your hair at two o'clock in the morning." Serena accused Alex.

"I didn't let you! I was asleep after being up all week for finals and you and Charlie were drunk and thought it would be funny."

"Then it was your fault for not coming out with us and I don't see how this falls under you getting roped into one of my little 'stunts' as you call it."

"You were the one who convinced me to move in with you two, worst decision ever."

The rest of the group sat back in silence and watched the pair.

"I still don't see how this effects what we were talking about earlier. What do you think Olivia?" Serena asked. Alex glared knifes at her. "Should one little incident effect how Alex views my opinion forever or should she just get over it?"

Olivia smiled and shook her head. "No. I'm not getting in the middle of this. This is between the two of you and I won't choose sides and you can't make me. I'm going to go get some coffee, who wants some?" Elliot, Huang, Kathy, Casey, Serena, Fin and Munch raised their hands.

"I'll come with you and give you a hand." Alex said while still glaring at Serena.

Once the pair had left the room Serena turned to the rest of the squad. "Alright guys, who wants so help me? Take this bad situation and make something good come of it."

"It could be fun, playing matchmaker." Melinda admitted.

"That's the spirit." Serena said.

"Sweetie, not that I don't agree about Alex and Olivia being in love with each other but you realize that if Alex finds out about this she'll kill you and I kind of like you alive." Casey said.

"She won't kill me if we do this the right way, so come on let's plan while they're gone."

"Fine but I warned you." Casey said and sighed.


	7. Locked Up

**Disclaimer: I own a new dress for the wedding, but I don't own these characters.**

Author's note- New update! This one is a little short, by the next chapter I think I'll start trying to break up all the sexual tension a little bit, but who knows maybe I'll drag it out a little for funsies. My uncle is getting married this weekend so I will be pretty busy the rest of the week with family so I don't know how much I'll be able to update, but next week I will for sure. Thanks for all the reviews keep 'em coming. Pie.

"So is everybody clear on the plan?" Serena asked the group.

They all nodded, even Casey who was still not crazy about this. "I just want to state for the record that Alex and Liv aren't stupid and they will figure this out eventually."

"Yeah well hopefully by the time they figure it out they'll be to happy and in love to kill us."

"Us? Don't you mean kill you? This is _your_ idea Serena. You're my girlfriend and I love you I really do which is why I'm trying to get you to drop this so Alex doesn't kill you."

"Oh Casey, Casey Casey." Serena gave her a suspicious smile. "I love you too, I really do but if I go down I'm dragging your ass with me and I swear to god if you try to sell me out I will cut you off from sex for so long you that you'll be old enough that you can't even remember your own name."

"You wouldn't." Casey stated.

"Try me." Serena dared.

"Fine, but only because you scare me more than Alex does."

"Good, a little fear is good in a relationship. Anyways back to business, we'll need to find Mary and make sure she's in on this too otherwise Alex will find out right away."

"I think I saw her a second ago down the hall." Elliot said.

"Good go find her and let her know what's up."

"Okay." Elliot got up and left the room. He returned a few minutes and gave them the thumbs up.

"Alright people this mission is a go." Serena said.

"Shouldn't we give it a name?" Fin asked.

"What?"

"You know give the mission a cool name so we can look back and laugh about it."

"How about Operation: This will most likely end badly." Casey suggested.

Serena glared at her. "Your bitterness does not help. Why don't we just call it Operation: Cragen since he's the reason we're here."

"Sounds good to me." Fin said.

Everybody had started to talk amongst themselves again when Alex and Olivia returned.

"Alright, coffee for everybody." Olivia said as she and Alex set down the two trays of coffee on a small table. Olivia looked over at Elliot. "Have you heard anything?"

"No, I just talked to Mary a few minutes ago and she said someone would be in in a few minutes."

"Okay." Olivia said.

"Elliot was right, a few minutes later a doctor came in with Mary to let them know what was happening.

"Okay, so we just located the clot. We were happily surprised to find that it was a lot smaller than we had originally thought, with that said this is still a pretty risky surgery and we won't know for sure how bad the damage is until we remove the clot. I wish I could stay and answer your questions but I should get back, Mary should be able to answer most of the questions you have." The doctor gave a small nod before leaving the room.

"What do you think?" Fin asked Mary.

"I think, it's going to be one hell of a long night, but I also think, from what I see here, your Captain must be a pretty special person, he'll be okay, don't you kids worry too much."

"Thanks for the help Mary." Elliot said and gave her a wink when nobody was looking to let her know that they were about ready for her. She got up and left. "Hey Liv, I'm gonna go grab some more chair will you give me a hand?" He asked.

"Sure." She said.

"Alex will help too." Serena said.

Alex glared at Serena but got up to help anyways.

"Alex you don't have to El and I can get it." Olivia told her.

"No that's okay I don't mind." Alex replied.

"Alright follow me." Elliot told them. "There's a supply closet down the hall that has extra chairs in it."

They followed him down the hall to the closet; Elliot opened it and flipped the light on. There was a chair waiting for him right when he walked through the doors, he picked it up.

"Is that the only one?" Olivia asked him.

"No I think there are more in the back." He told her.

"Okay." She and Alex moved aside so he could exit before they both went to get the extra chairs.

Elliot walked out of the room and winked to Mary who walked past him and closed the door to the closet. Once the door was closed Elliot took the chair and shoved it under the knob to the closet. Mary went over to the nurses' station and grabbed a piece of paper and a key; she locked the door and posted it on the door. It said 'Do not open this door under any circumstances unless directed to do so by Nurse Harris.'

Elliot removed the chair from the door and high fived Mary. They walked back to the waiting room to let the group know.

"So?" Serena asked when they walked in.

"They're all locked in."

"Good. Now we just have to make sure this doesn't come back to bite us in the ass."


	8. Closet Case

**Disclaimer: I'm not Dick so I don't own them.**

Author's note- I'm pretty sure this chapter is longer. I'm not going to leave much of an authors note today because I'm pretty sure I'd start rambling and give it away. Anyways you should review, call it your good deed for the day. Thanks. Pie.

"Did you hear that?" Alex asked.

"What?" Olivia asked and turned around just in time to see the door click shut.

When Alex saw the look on Olivia's face she turned around too. "The door is shut." She stated.

"The door is shut." Olivia repeated.

"That's okay; I'll just go open it." Alex said and walked over to the door and attempted to open it. "Or not."

"Is it locked?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah I think it is." Alex sighed. "I'm sorry Liv."

"Why? It's not your fault."

"Yeah but I should have watched the door I wasn't thinking."

"I didn't think about it either. It's nobody's fault; let's blame Elliot."

"Why are we blaming Elliot if it's nobody's fault?" Alex asked.

"Because it's fun to mess with him plus if I blame him and he feels bad enough he'll do my paperwork for the next few days."

Alex laughed. "Do you think I could get him to do my paperwork too?" Alex asked.

"Yeah probably but he's so used to doing his DD-5s you would have to teach him how to and that could take longer than it's worth unless you plan on blaming Elliot for things more often then you might get some use out of him."

"Good to know, I'll think about it. So any ideas about how to get out of here?"

Olivia reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She flipped it open. "Damn, I don't have any reception."

Alex pulled hers out. "I can usually get reception anywhere." She flipped hers open and sighed. "I guess having good reception won't help when your battery's dead huh?"

"I guess not."

"Any other ideas?"

"Sit, relax, and try to keep ourselves entertained." Olivia told her.

"Sounds good to me." Alex sat down across from Olivia before a thought struck her. "Wait, won't Elliot wonder where we went and come back to find us?"

"He might but when he sees the door is all closed up he'll probably think we decided to go for another walk or something, and the door is too thick to try pounding on, so for now I guess we're stuck. But the way I look at it, we're in a hospital and they probably need this closet for something right? I'm sure somebody will be in here at sometime to get something and then we'll be freed."

Alex looked at her watch. "I'm impressed that you can use logic like that this early in the morning."

Olivia wasn't wearing a watch so she gently grabbed Alex's arm and looked at her watch instead. "Wow we've been here a while haven't we?"

"Yes we have." Alex said and tried but failed to suppress a yawn.

"Tired?" Olivia asked

"No." Alex tried to lie but ended up yawning again. She hung her head. "Yes."

"Why don't you try to get some sleep?" Olivia suggested.

"No, that's okay. I've pulled all nighters before I'll be fine."

Olivia stood up and grabbed something off a shelve. "Here use these." She set the pillow and blanket down by Alex.

"Really Liv, it's fine I don't ne-"

Olivia cut her off. "Alexandra, sleep. You look like you need it."

Alex was a little taken aback, nobody ever called her Alexandra besides her parents and her bosses. "Fine." She gave in and set the pillow up and laid down covering herself with the blanket. As hard as she tried she couldn't fall asleep and just ended up moving around a lot.

"Do you usually squirm this much?" Olivia asked.

"No. Usually I'm asleep before my head hits the pillow."

"What's different about tonight?" Olivia asked.

"Usually I don't have anybody watching me." Alex answer.

"I thought you were dating Trevor." Olivia said without thinking, bitterness seeping out of her words.

Alex only barely noticed the tone though, she was too disgusted by the comment. "Trevor Langen?"

Olivia subconsciously winced slightly at the name. "Yeah, Elliot and I saw you too out at dinner a few weeks ago, I mean you didn't say anything to the girls and I but I figured it was your business and you'd tell us if you felt like it."

"Eww." Was all Alex could say. " Eww, eww, eww."

"So you're not dating him?" Olivia asked.

"No, no way in hell I'd go near that scumbag."

"Good to know the feeling is mutual." Olivia said.

"You thought I was on a date with him?" Alex asked.

"Yes." Olivia answed.

"Well, why?"

"Maybe it was the sexy red dress you were wearing or the candles on the table or the fact that the entire time Elliot and I were there he wouldn't take his eyes off you."

Alex took a second to digest this information first stopping at the fact that Olivia thought her dress was sexy, then moving on the fact that her voice picked up an agitated tone when she mentioned Trevor's staring. "Liv, I promise it was not a date that was my boss forcing me to have dinner with him."

"Then what was the dress about?" Olivia was not letting this go easily.

"Again, that was my boss. Liz was gone that week and Jack McCoy was filling in for her temporarily, that man is almost as much of a pig as Langen."

"Yeah I know, Abs used to complain about him all the time when she still lived here."

"Abbie Carmichael?" Alex asked and felt a twinge of jealousy surge through her.

"Yeah she's my best friends, besides Elliot of course."

"That's good, she seems nice, I've met her a few times."

"Yeah she's pretty great."

They fell into a comfortable silence. Alex still couldn't fall asleep.

"You're still squirming." Olivia stated.

"You're still watching me." Alex said.

Olivia got back up and grabbed another pillow. "Here if I sleep too then I can't watch you."

"Don't you need a blanket?" Alex asked.

"That's the only one." Olivia pointed to Alex's blanket.

"Here." Alex held one side of the blanket up so Olivia could crawl under. "You can share with me."

Olivia smiled and moved under the blanket. Alex found she was now a lot more comfortable.

'_And I thought the sexual tension was bad in the hallway, we better get out of here soon or I won't be able to control myself. I swear I will kill you Serena for putting all these ideas in my head.' _Alex thought before drifting off to sleep.

A/N- I hope you all liked it. I could have started to dig into their feeling but I thought it was more fun to do it this way, let you all sweat it a little. Review. Pie.


	9. Dreams and an Open Door

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters but I enjoy pretending like I do.**

Author's note- I know it has been forever since I've updated and I apologize. Since school started again I have been working like crazy to get everything done. I stayed home sick today and I figured I might as well do something with my time so here you guys go. Review and let me know what you think. I know after reading this you might have a few questions and I promise they will be answered in the next chapter. I hope you all like it. Pie.

She was in her apartment, in the kitchen to be exact. There was something on the stove cooking, she wasn't sure what it was she was about to look when she heard a sound come from the other side of the apartment. She left the kitchen and walked down the hall towards her bedroom. She heard another noise. It was coming from the bathroom, the shower was running or at least it had been she heard the water shut off.

"Hello?" She called out.

"I'm in here." Came the response.

She recognized the voice, it was one she heard nearly everyday. She followed it into her bedroom and over to the master bathroom. She was about to reach out to open the door when it swung open by itself.

There stood her favorite detective all but naked with one of her own towels wrapped around her midsection.

"Liv?" Alex was confused as to why the detective was standing in the doorway to her bathroom in only a towel, not that she minded much.

"Hey babe, smells good what is it?" Olivia asked as she moved past Alex and towards the closet.

Alex just stood there her mouth hanging open, not really sure of what to say.

"Lex? Did you hear me?" Olivia asked.

"What?"

"What's for dinner?" Olivia asked again.

"Um…uh, I'm not sure."

Olivia laughed. "See something you like counselor?"

It took Alex a second to process what Olivia had said. "What, no, I was just uh…" Alex stumbled to try to pry her eyes away from the detective's body.

"You know, I think dinner can wait at least for a while." Olivia said and moved back towards Alex. She stood right in front of the stunned ADA and brushed some hair out of her eyes. "What are you thinking so hard about?" Olivia asked tentatively.

"You're naked." Alex said without thinking.

Olivia laughed. "You're cute." Olivia said and moved to remove the towel from her body.

Alex watched memorized as the towel hit the floor, then suddenly her body jerked and her eyes flew open and she was back in the storage room. It had all been a dream, a very amazingly good dream that she desperately wanted to finish.

She sat up and held her head in her hands, she was no Freud but she didn't need much help to figure out what that dream meant.

"Are you okay?" A voice from behind her asked.

She had totally forgotten about Olivia being there. She repositioned herself so she was sitting crossed legged with her back up against the wall. Olivia moved so she was sitting the same way across from Alex.

"I just had a weird dream is all." Alex told her.

"You want to talk about it?" Olivia asked.

"No, uh that's okay." Alex said and faked a smile.

"Are you sure? Sometimes it can help, you know get to the root of the problem.

"No that's okay; it was pretty cut and dry just weird. If that makes any sense."

"Sure, happens to everybody." Olivia smiled at her.

Alex was having a hard time sorting her thoughts; she got up and started to pace the small space in the closet.

"Alex are you okay?"

"What?" Alex asked she had been lost in her own thoughts.

"Are you okay? You seem a little frazzled."

"I'm just wondering when we're getting out of here."

"Alex, don't worry about it, I'm sure somebody will come find us and by now the squad has got to be wondering where we are."

"Is it just me or is it hot in here?" Alex asked as she tugged off her sweatshirt.

Olivia stood up and stopped Alex. "Calm down, count to ten, deep breaths."

Alex stopped pacing and looked Olivia in the eye. For a few moments neither of them moved or said anything, they just stared at each other. Alex wasn't sure about Olivia but she felt something about the mood of the room shift. Finally Olivia moved, she wrapped her arms around Alex and sat her back down. "If you don't calm down you're going to hyperventilate and have a panic attack." Olivia told her.

Alex took a deep breath. She tried to clear her head from all the dirty thoughts running through it, but it was hard with Olivia being so close. "It's just so hard." Alex admitted, she sounded completely exhausted.

"I know, but don't worry you won't be stuck with me for much longer." Olivia joked.

"No." Alex said a little too quickly and adamantly. "I mean, I just..." Alex sighed and leaned her head back.

Olivia waited patiently for Alex to sort her thoughts out.

Alex rubbed the bridge of her nose before looking up at Olivia. "Have you ever just had so many thought floating around in your head that it gets hard to sort them out and you can't seem to get anything else done because your thoughts can't control themselves?"

"Yes." Olivia answered simply.

"It's frustrating."

"I know."

Alex sighed and smiled. "Thank you."

"For what?" Olivia asked.

"For listening." Alex told her.

"You didn't really say anything."

"I know, but you listened to what I did say."

"It's what I do." Olivia smiled at her. "You know I'm here for you anytime right Alex?"

"Really?" Alex asked with all seriousness.

"Of course, Alex you're one of my best friends." Olivia told her.

"Right." Alex said a little disappointed at being brought back to reality.

"Alex, are you okay? Did I say something wrong?"

"No Liv. You said everything just right."

"Then what's wrong?" Olivia asked.

"It's nothing." Alex tried to lie.

"No, I think it's something, come on Alex just tell me."

"It's just…" Alex took a moment to organize her thoughts before continuing. "Have you ever had something that was really great, and you knew it had the potential to be something even better but you were afraid that if you tried to make it better and it didn't work out you would lose it altogether?"

"Yeah." Olivia told her. "I don't know what to tell you Alex. On one hand I would say go for it and see what happens, everything happens for a reason, on the other hand I know how scary it is to put yourself out there like that and it can be a lot easier to just leave it alone. But you should know that if you leave it alone it will eat at you and you'll always be asking yourself 'what if'."

"Exactly, I want to be able to get past all the fear I just can't get past the biggest question which is what if it fails and I can't do anything about it and then I lose it all together. I don't know what I would do, I would feel totally lost."

"Well all you can do is try."

"Yeah you're right." Alex said. She was just about to open up and tell Olivia everything when all the sudden the door opened.


	10. Release the Kraken

**Disclaimer: I now own an extra hour of time to plot how I'm going to steal these characters, but as of right now they are not mine.**

Author's note- Hey do you guys want to know something? There is this new feature, or maybe it's old who knows, but I just found it and it lets me see how many people are visiting and reading my stories every day. I was really surprised by how many readers I have. So anyways I just wanted to say thank you for reading because otherwise I don't know if I would keep writing. This is what I'm thinking, I want as many of you to review as possible because the real reason I write is to get feedback, I'm a review whore, but at least I admit it. Plus to tell you all the truth I'm feeling kind of Bitchy today and your reviews could help. Anyways sorry about rambling, go read, enjoy, or don't but let me know either way. Thanks Pie.

The man who opened the door looked surprised to see them. "Um, hi." He said. "Uh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize, uh I'll go, sorry." he said then turned to leave.

"Wait, don't close the door." Olivia said and stood up.

The man turned around.

"We came in here to get some extra chairs and the door closed and we've been stuck ever since." Alex explained.

"Oh." The man said and smiled. "Well, then consider yourself free."

"Thanks." Alex stood up and followed Olivia out of the closet.

"Why is it that I feel like we're doing some kind of walk of shame right now?" Olivia asked as they walked back to the waiting room.

"Probably because in every medical drama on TV the only thing closets are ever used for is sex." Alex told her.

"Oh, well if I had known that the last two hours could have gone by a lot quicker." Olivia joked.

Alex was too shocked by the comment to reply.

As they walked into the waiting room Casey nudged Serena awake. "Serena!" She hissed. "Wake up!"

"What?" Serena asked sleepily.

"Look." Casey told her and moved her eyes towards the door.

Serena moved her head off Casey's shoulder to look. "Oh." She said. "Shit."

"Yeah, shit." Casey said. "What are you going to do now smartass?"

"You know insulting me doesn't help!" Serena glared at her. "Okay just act normal."

Alex walked over and took a seat next to Serena and Olivia went over to where Elliot was standing.

"Hey." Serena said.

Alex glared at her.

"What's wrong with your face?" Serena asked.

"You do realize it's been two hours since we left to get chairs don't you?" Alex asked.

"Really?" Serena acted surprised. "I fell asleep like five minutes after you left. Why did it take you two hours to get chairs?" She asked.

"It didn't Serena. The closet door shut and locked so we've been stuck in the closet for the last two hours."

Serena laughed.

"How is this funny?" Alex asked her.

"Nothing, just you stuck in the closet, reminds me of high school."

Alex swatted her shoulder. "Can you be serious for a few minutes please?"

"Sorry, you know how I get when I'm tired." Serena whined. "Plus I don't see what the big deal is, you had good company and you're out now so stop complaining."

"I hate you." Alex said.

"No you don't, you love me. You hate that I'm right, but you love me."

"Why are you so smart?" Alex asked.

"Well, I grew up with you as a best friend. You learn a lot when you hang out with Alex Cabot all the time."

Alex smiled. "Thanks."

"So, did you at least talk to her?" Serena asked.

"I was about to when the door opened." Alex confessed.

"Well that sucks."

"Yeah, it does."

"Well now what?" Serena asked.

"I don't know."

"I think you should still tell her."

"I want to."

"Then do it."

"Yeah, I guess so, once all of this is over."

"Pinky promise?" Serena asked.

Alex stuck her pinky out. "I promise."

Olivia walked over and sat down next to Alex.

"Elliot is acting weird." Olivia said when she sat down. "He said he didn't notice we were even gone, but he seems twitchy and weird."

"He probably just needs some coffee, I'll take him to go get some." Serena said. She walked over to Elliot and grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of the room.

"Our friends are weird." Olivia said.

"Our friends _are_ weird." Alex repeated.

"Are you okay?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, why?" Alex asked.

"I don't know, you just seemed scatter brained in the closet. You seemed like you wanted to tell me something. You know before that guy came in."

"Um, yeah, I'm just really tired I guess."

Olivia knew it was more than that but she figured Alex would say something when she was ready. "Why don't you try to get some sleep. Elliot said Cragen is doing fine and that a doctor will be in here in a while. I'll wake you up when they get here okay?"

"Sure, thanks."

"Don't worry about it."

Alex laid her head back and fell asleep quickly. It didn't take long before she shifted and her head was resting on Olivia's shoulder. Eventually Olivia fell asleep too.


	11. Crazy Random Happenstance

**Disclaimer: I own Ash by: Malinda Lo and I recommend it to all of you but I don't own these characters.**

Author's note- Hey…So I thought I'd update this one too. I feel really bad that it's been so long so sorry. I hope everybody had a good holiday. Mine was fun except for my Grandma who is a little homophobic, she's getting better though. I hope y'all enjoy this chapter, let me know, thanks. Pie.

Serena pulled Elliot toward an empty hallway.

"What's wrong with you?" Serena asked.

Elliot didn't respond, he was too busy looking around the hallway making sure they were the only ones there. He seemed twitchy and paranoid.

"Elliot." Serena said again.

When he still didn't respond she sighed and slapped him lightly across the cheek. "Snap out of it man."

"Ow, you hit me." He responded.

"It couldn't have hurt too much." She said.

"Yeah, but you _hit_ me."

"It was for your own good."

"I can't believe you really hit me."

"Yeah, and I'll do it again if you don't shut your face and listen."

"Right, sorry."

"It's okay."

"You're plan didn't work."

"Yeah, I've gathered. Luckily I don't think they know we set them up, so just act normal and don't let on that you know anything. You're a cop you should be able to lie convincingly."

"Yeah but Liv almost always knows when I lie, we've worked together too long."

"Then just tell her that you're shaken up about Cragen."

"Yeah that's a good idea." Elliot sighed. "You talked to Alex?"

"Yeah."

"What did she say?"

"She said that she was about to tell Liv how she felt when they got let out."

"I'm still trying to figure out how that happened; I saw Mary put that sign on the door."

"Let's go find her and let her know." Serena said and started to walk toward the nurse's station.

"Sure." Elliot said and followed.

They walked up and found Mary right behind the desk. She looked up when she heard them approach. "Uh oh, you don't look happy." She said.

"Yeah, somehow the girls got let out a little earlier than expected; we thought we would give you a heads up."

"Okay, I'll try to figure out what happened, thanks for letting me know."

"No problem." Serena and Elliot turned and started walking back to the room.

"Oh, guys?" Mary called out.

They turned back around and waited for her to tell them what was up.

"There's going to be somebody stopping by the room in a little while to let you know what's happening with Cragen."

"Okay, thanks."

They were on their way back when Serena remembered something. "Didn't we say we were going to get coffee or something?"

"Yeah, you're right."

They turned and started walking toward the small hospital café. After they were done ordering they got a candy striper to help them carry all of the coffees to the room.

Serena took a tray over to where the girls were sitting. Alex and Olivia were both asleep so she set theirs on the coffee table in front of them figuring it wouldn't be long before the smell woke at least Alex up. She handed one to George and then went to sit next to Casey.

"Hazelnut for you." Serena said and handed a cup to her girlfriend.

"You're my favorite." Casey said and kissed her.

"Even with all my crazy ideas that always seem to get us in trouble?" Serena asked.

"Yep." Casey said. "Without them you wouldn't be you."

"Aww, thanks." Serena said and blushed. "Well I'm glad to have _you_ to be my voice of reason."

"That you rarely listen to." Casey joked.

"Exactly." Serena said and smiled.

Alex woke up before Olivia. She moved her head off the brunettes shoulder. "Is one of those for me?" She asked Serena regarding the coffee.

"Yes, whichever one you want, apparently you and the hot detective take your coffee the same." Serena said and smiled. "What a crazy random happenstance that is."

"Shut up." Alex told her.

She sat back and took a long sip of her coffee. For a while she just sat there and watched Olivia. It didn't last long though, the brunette woke up a few minute later.

"Hey." She said when she saw Alex, her voice was still groggy from sleep. "Is that for me?" she asked looking at the only coffee left on the table.

"Yeah." Alex told her and smiled.

Olivia took it. "Any news about Cragen?" She asked.

"No, Mary said somebody was coming by in a little while to update us." Serena told her. No sooner had the words left her mouth did a doctor walk in.


	12. An Update

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters but I do own a pair of running shoes that are about to get some good use.**

Author's note- I know it's been forever since I updated but between my workload at school and my grandmother's kidney transplant I haven't had much time. Please don't hate me. Thanks Pie.

It was the same doctor as before, Dr. VanDyken. Olivia searched her face for any signs as to how Cragen was doing. Usually she could read people pretty well but here she was getting mixed signals.

Without any type of announcement being made the rest of the people in the room became quiet and started to form a semi circle. Elliot grabbed a spare chair and set it in the middle for the doctor to sit. She looked at him and smiled before she sat down. She looked around the room at all the people. "I don't think I've ever seen this many people show up for one person before, the Captain is one lucky guy."

Alex looked at Olivia, she could see how nervous she was, she squeezed her hand in support and then asked the question that was written all over everybody else's faces. "How is he?"

Dr. Vandyken smiled. "He's doing good. They should be wheeling him to post op as we speak."

Olivia seemed to find her voice with the news that the Cragen was okay. "How did the surgery go?"

"The surgery went…well." The doctor said.

"Define well." Olivia said sensing the slight hesitation.

"Overall he's doing great. There was a little bit of a hitch in our plans once we opened him up but we managed to work it out and from that point on things sailed very smoothly."

"What kind of hitch?" Elliot asked.

"The clot that I told you about earlier was easy to remove. Unfortunately once we removed it we found that there was some blockage behind it that didn't show up on any of the tests we ran prior to the surgery."

"Did you remove it?" Casey asked.

"Yes, it was a little touch and go there for a few minutes but we managed to safely remove the rest of the blockage and from there on it was all just a matter of repairing the damage."

"How bad was the damage?" Alex asked her.

"It was not as bad as we had previously anticipated. It took us a little bit of time but we managed to get it repaired. Right now everything looks really good. We're going to keep him here on the surgical floor for about a week after that he'll be moved to a different floor for recovering patients for a few days and at that point we'll reassess his case to make sure everything is working well and if it is then he should be able to go home."

"And once he's able to go home?" Olivia asked.

"He'll need a little bit of help for a little while. He won't be able to drive for a few weeks so he'll need help getting to his physical therapy appointments, looking around the room I don't think that will be much of a problem." She joked. "It won't be long before he's back at work keeping New York safe."

Olivia only had one last question. "Can we see him?"

"I about a half an hour I'll send a nurse to come get you guys. You can see him but only one at a time and you'll all have to wear masks and gloves just as a precaution." She told them. They talked for a few more minutes before she got up and left.

The next thirty minutes seemed to be the longest part of the night so far. Olivia was about to get up and start pacing when a nurse came in to take them to see the Captain. When they got down to the post-op rooms everybody stopped and tried to figure out who got to go first. Elliot grabbed a mask and some gloves and handed them to Olivia.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Of course Liv, if anybody deserves to see him first it's you."

Olivia blushed slightly before she put the mask and gloves on. Once she was ready she sighed and looked at Alex who gave her a small encouraging smile then she turned and followed the nurse down the rest of the hall and into the recovery room. She stopped when she got to the doorway to compose herself.

"You ready?" The nurse asked her.

Olivia sighed. "Yeah."

The nurse pushed open the door for her and Olivia walked through. There were two beds in the room, one was empty and the other was occupied by a man that slightly resembled her captain. She saw a chair over in the corner and pulled it up next to his bed. She reached over and took his hand in hers. A few seconds later his eyelids fluttered open.

"Hey." Olivia said.

"Hi." He said and gave her a small smile. "Sorry I ruined dinner."

"That's okay it was a little overcooked anyway."

Cragen laughed lightly before a coughing fit took over. Olivia panicked slightly but before she could get out of the door to get a nurse he had calmed down.

"If you continue to scare me like that I'll be in the bed next to you." She said.

He reached over and took her hand. "I'm really sorry that I scared you Olivia." He said sincerely.

Olivia could feel the tears brimming and blinked them away quickly. "Just don't let it happen again." She croaked out.

They sat together for a few more minutes before a nurse came in and told her it was time to go.

Olivia bent over and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "I'll be back tomorrow, do you need anything?"

"No I'm good, just do me a favor though."

"Sure anything."

"Don't come too early."

"Why not?" She asked.

"You see that nurse over there?" He asked pointing to Mary.

"Yeah, that's Mary. What about her?"

"I'm going to ask her to have breakfast with me in the morning so do me a favor and make sure nobody shows up before ten okay?"

Olivia laughed. "I think I can manage that." She said before leaving.

Olivia walked back into the waiting room and told everybody the Captain's message. She started gathering up her things. Alex started to pack up her things as well and waited for Olivia to say her goodbyes to everybody.

"You ready?" Alex asked.

"Alex, you don't have to go yet. You can stay and see the Captain if you want. I'm a big girl, I can get home by myself."

"I know you _can_ but I also know you probably don't want to be alone right now. So I say we go back to my apartment and get some rest before we come back up here tomorrow morning."

"Okay." Olivia said knowing she couldn't fight it and also knowing she didn't really want to.

They let everybody know they were leaving and then walked outside to catch a cab.


	13. A Little Sleep

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters blah blah blah, I'm going for a bike ride.**

Author's note- Hey y'all. I know it's been forever since I've updated this but I really hope you don't hate me. We're starting to get there. This chapter is a little longer than usual because I've been such a loser. I think my muse may have started to like me again so expect more updates this week. Thanks you guys. –Pie.

They walked into Alex's apartment building slowly both of them were exhausted.

"Miss Cabot, Detective Benson, how Mr. Cragen doing?" Ray, the doorman, asked as they entered the building.

Alex raised her eyebrows, she didn't remember mentioning anything to Ray on her way out about what had happened, when she left her building she herself didn't even know what was going on.

"After you left Ms. Southerlyn called, she said that she was unable to get a hold of you and asked that I call up to your apartment and let you know you were needed at the hospital. After I told her you had already left she filled me in on what had happened." He explained.

Alex nodded. "He's doing a lot better."

Ray smiled. "That's good to hear. Can I get the elevator for you two ladies?"

Alex looked at Olivia who just shrugged. "Actually I think we'll take the stairs, after sitting in a waiting room all night I feel like stretching my muscles a little bit."

Ray nodded. "Have a good time." He said and winked at Alex. She just glared back before following Olivia to the staircase. A few minutes later they were entering her apartment, the light in the hallway was still on from when Alex left.

"I have to call Serena real quick to let her know we got here okay." Alex said. "I think you have some clothes in the closet in my office from the last time you spent the night." Olivia nodded then headed off in that direction. Alex set her stuff down on the kitchen counter and relocked her apartment up before grabbing her phone and heading towards her bedroom. As she dialed Serena's number she grabbed her previously discarded pajama's and began to change back into them.

"_Shouldn't you be doing naughty things with a sexy detective?" _

"Hello to you too Serena." Alex replied into the phone.

"_Come on, don't be like that, you know I'm right." _

"Yeah, you're right. Why even bother trying to talk to her? I should just walk back into the living room naked, that should get my point across." Alex replied sarcastically.

"_That's the spirit!"_ Serena replied enthusiastically.

"_Don't listen to her Alex; she's had too much coffee." _Alex could hear Casey in the background.

"Tell your girlfriend that I like her better than you." Alex said.

"_You know if you're going to be mean I could just hang up and call Olivia's cell and tell her how much you _love_ her."_

Alex wasn't fazed. "Or I could hang up and call your mother and tell her the real reason you and Casey missed dinner last weekend."

"_Fine, I'm not afraid of her."_

"Liar."

"_Okay, maybe I'm a little afraid of her but I don't think it's fair that you use that against me, I mean really Alex going to my mommy what are we five?"_

"You started it."

"_Did not"_

"Did too."

"_Did not."_

"You so started it."

"_Did n-, I'm not going to argue with you anymore just so you can change the subject."_

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just called to let you know we got home safe, and as you pointed out earlier I have a hot detective waiting for me so I think I should get going." Before Serena could protest Alex hung up on her.

As she walked out into the living room she heard Olivia's phone start to ring. "It's probably Serena." Alex said.

Olivia looked at her caller ID. "How did you know?"

"She was annoying me so I hung up on her, she's probably calling to tell on me." Alex said, leaving out what Serena would be telling on her for.

Olivia nodded. "Well I can call her back in the morning." She pushed a button and her phone turned off. "If anybody needs me they know where I am."

Alex smiled as she studied the detective. She had changed out of her work clothes and was now wearing a pair of sweat pants and a SVU baseball tee.

"What?" Olivia asked.

"Hmm?"

"You're staring." Olivia said and laughed a little.

"Am I? I guess it's just nice to see you in a more relaxed setting, we haven't done this in a while." Alex said as she sat next to Olivia on the couch.

"Yeah, I know." Olivia said. She reached over and grabbed Alex's hand and intertwined their fingers. Alex laid her head on Olivia's shoulder. Their lack of sleep was helping to break down the walls of tension. "I've missed it." Olivia commented after a few minutes.

"Me too." Alex commented.

"I like the fish by the way." Olivia said and used her free hand to point to Alex's pajama pants.

Alex laughed. "Yeah, my sister got these for me."

"Well you should tell her that I like her sense of style."

"I will." Alex said. "Are you tired?"

"Yeah but I think I'm a little too wired to sleep."

Alex nodded and looked at her watch. "Wow, it's already almost six."

"I told Cragen I'd be back up around ten." Olivia said through a yawn.

"Alright, come on." Alex said. She stood up and started walking toward her bedroom dragging Olivia with her.

"I already told you, I'm too wired to sleep, plus we'd only have three hours or so before I'd have to get up and get ready to go back to the hospital." Olivia tried to tell her.

Alex wasn't hearing any of it. "Well then that's three hours you wouldn't have otherwise had. I'll set my alarm and when it goes off _we _can get up and go see Cragen but until then you might as well try to rest a little bit." Alex put emphasis on the word we, wanting Olivia to know she wasn't in this alone.

Olivia knew there was no point in arguing with Alex so she just obliged and climbed into bed next to the blonde. It was only a few minutes later that she was sure Alex had fallen asleep, she on the other hand was not so lucky. It didn't take long before her thoughts drifted back to the night before.

"_So besides passing your Sergeants exam what else is new?" Cragen asked after they ordered._

"_Nothing really, just the usual; work, home, laundry repeat. With the exception of drinks with the squad nothing exciting has happened." _

"_You just need to find yourself a good woman to love." _

"_You say that as if it's some easy task." Olivia laughed his statement._

"_Well if you would just be honest with yourself about your feelings it probably would be." He replied._

"_What are you talking about, old man." Olivia asked. _

"_Don't you 'old man' me. You know what I'm talking about." _

_Olivia continued to play dumb, hoping the conversation would switch topics._

"_Blue eyes, blonde hair, about 5'9 ½ sometimes closer to 5'11 in heels. Ring any bells."_

"_Nope, none." Olivia said. By now she knew he wasn't going to drop it so she decided to make it as hard on him as possible._

"_Sure you don't. You know Olivia, one of these days you're going to wake up and realize that life is about more than just catching the bad guy and you should pray that when you do she's still there." _

"_Why is this so important to you all of the sudden?" She asked._

"_You're the closest thing I have to a daughter and like every other good father out there I want grandkids one day, hopefully before I'm too old to pick them up."_

_Before Olivia could respond the waiter brought their food out. After he left she looked over at Cragen. "Okay so say, _hypothetically_, that you're right. Now what?"_

"_Well, that one you have to figure out yourself. I don't have all the answers, I'm just here to plant the seed. If I had to guess though, I would say talking to her would be a good start."_

"If you keep doing that your brain will explode." Alex's voice tore Olivia from her thoughts.

"Doing what?" Olivia asked, surprised that Alex was awake.

"Thinking so hard." Alex replied, eyes still closed.

"I thought you were sleeping."

"The smoke coming out of your ears woke me up."

"Ha ha."

"Come on," Alex said and pulled Olivia closer to her. "Sleep, it's nice. Only a few hours and we can go check on him and if you're good I'll even buy you coffee." Alex rested her head on Olivia's shoulder.

Olivia wanted to argue but she suddenly found herself drifting off and decided to take Alex's advice and just let it happen.

A/N- What did you guys think? I promise they will have their talk soon but I think a little bit more needs to happen first. On a totally unrelated note how many of you guys watch We Have To Stop Now? It's a really good web series. It's subscription based but trust me it's worth it. I would also recommend watching Anyone But Me which can be found at their website or on Afterellen and even on Hulu. Anyways that's all I have. Thanks guys. –Pie.


	14. A Morning Visit and a Little Chat

**DISCLIAMER: I have a 64 FL OZ thing of Gatorade but I don't own these characters.**

Author's note- Alright guys, I know it's been forever and I can't promise I'll be any faster with the next update, but I will try. Senior year is taking its toll and I'm being slow. This last weekend I spent a lot of time reading A/O fics and I fell in love with it all over again so I'm going to try and make an update more often. Okay within the next few chapters all with be revealed. Thanks so much. –Pie.

A few hours later Olivia woke up to Alex's alarm buzzing. She reached over and clicked it off before turning to see her bedmate was gone. She got up and could smell coffee; clearly Alex had been up for a while. When she walked into the kitchen she saw Alex leaning down over the countertop, a coffee cup in one hand and the paper in the other. As Olivia got closer she laughed. "The Great Alexandra Cabot reads the comics."

Alex rolled up the paper and swatted her with it. "Be quiet you."

"Hey, I didn't say it was a bad thing." Olivia said as she tried to dodge the paper. "I just never pegged you as a comic reader."

"It's a tradition." Alex simply said.

Olivia raised her eyebrow waiting for an explanation.

"When I was a kid, my dad worked a lot and most days I was already in bed when he got home from work. He read the paper every morning before he left and when he would get to the comic strip he'd always read them to me. We were usually the only two people in my family to be up that early so it became our thing, I guess it just stuck."

Olivia smiled. "Your dad sounds like he was a really great guy."

"Yeah, he was. I wished he could have met you. You guys would have really hit it off." Alex gave Olivia a sad smile. "There's some coffee over there for you." She said trying to change the subject.

Olivia reached over and took the mug. "Thanks." She wanted to know more about Alex's family but she knew that she shouldn't push the blonde. "So how long have you been awake?" Olivia asked.

"Not long, maybe a half an hour. I just figured I would get up and make some coffee; I knew we would need it. Elliot and Kathy stopped by about fifteen minutes ago, and dropped off some clothes for you." Alex said and pointed to her couch where a small duffle bag was sitting. "If you want to go change we can head up to the hospital."

Olivia nodded and retrieved the bag from the couch before disappearing into Alex's room. As she waited Alex allowed her thoughts to drift back to her father. It had been nearly eighteen years since he had passed away. She still missed him but it wasn't as bad as it had once been. For a few years after he died even just the mention of his name was enough to bring tears to her eyes; eventually though she started to smile when he was brought up and even though the occasional tear was shed she had come to realize that she had been incredibly blessed to have such a great person in her life.

A few minutes later Olivia exited the bedroom. "You're happy." Olivia said as she reentered the kitchen.

"Yeah, I was just thinking." Alex said as she grabbed her purse and keys ready to go see Cragen.

"Must be good thoughts." Olivia commented as they made their way to the elevator.

"Mhmm. Very good thoughts." Alex said and noticed Olivia raise an eyebrow. "I'll tell you later."

Olivia just nodded a small smile played on her lips. It was nice for her to see Alex like this.

The rest of the ride to the hospital was fairly quiet. Both of them were still pretty tired from the previous night. Alex parked the car in the visitors' lot before following Olivia through the doubled doors at the hospital's entrance. They made their way to the information booth.

"Is there something I can help you ladies with?" The young man behind the counter asked.

"Yes, could you tell us what room Donald Cragen is in please?" Alex asked. They had assumed that Cragen had been moved from the surgical wing by now and was most likely in recovery instead.

The man typed the information into his computer before looking back up at them. "He was moved to room 307 about an hour ago. If you take that set of elevators to the third floor, turn left. His room should be at the end of the hall right across from the nurse's station."

"Thanks." They both echoed. They followed the man's instructions and got into the elevator. The ride to the third floor was quick and it wasn't long before they were standing outside room 307. The door was open and they could see Cragen sitting up in his bed. Mary was sitting in a chair. She had changed from her scrubs and was now wearing jeans and a nice sweater. She and Cragen seemed to be in the middle of a lighthearted conversation. Olivia knocked lightly on the doorframe to get their attention.

"Speak of the devil." Cragen said as the pair entered his room. "We were just talking about you."

"I don't even want to know." Olivia said as she bent down to give Cragen a hug. Alex followed suit.

"How are you feeling?" Alex asked once they had all sat down.

Cragen quickly glanced at Olivia. "I'm fine. A lot better than I expected to be anyways."

"Do they have a discharge date yet?" Olivia asked knowing he would be eager to be out as soon as possible.

Cragen didn't really know. He had only been awake a few hours and when the doctor came to talk with him earlier that morning he had still been somewhat out of it from the medication they gave him for his pain. "I'm not actually sure. The doctor I spoke with mentioned something but I can't really remember much of our conversation. Do you know?" He asked Mary.

"Probably in a few weeks. They'll want to monitor you for a while and then they'll want to get you started with your physical therapist." She responded.

She knew it was unreasonable but Olivia had wanted Cragen out of the hospital faster than that. She hated hospitals. Before she got a chance to ask any more questions somebody unfamiliar popped their head in. "Sorry to interrupt but I need to fill out Mr. Cragen's medical information and send it to the insurance company."

Cragen looked to Olivia as she stood up. "I'll handle it." She said.

Mary stood up too. "I should get going, I have another shift tonight I should get home and get some sleep." She looked at Cragen. "Thank you again for breakfast Don." With that she gave him a small wink and followed Olivia and the man out of Cragen's room.

A slightly uncomfortable silence covered the room as Alex and Cragen were left alone. "So how was your breakfast with Mary?" Alex asked trying to break the silence.

"You know, as well as can be expected on a liquid diet. It was nice though, to have the company, since Marge passed it's been – it's been lonely."

Alex nooded. She had never gotten the chance to meet Cragen's wife before she died in the plane crash but she had heard a lot of good things about her. When she looked up and met Cragen's eyes she knew a lecture was coming.

"Don-" She started but was cut off.

"Alex, don't. I'm going to ask you a few questions and you will be honest. Understood?" He gave her a stern look.

It took a lot for Alexandra Cabot the Great Ice Queen to be intimidated but she was. "Yes sir." She said timidly.

"Are you lonely?"

It was a simple question but it threw her, she was expecting questions about Olivia like everybody else had been asking. "I'm- I have friends and I…" She wanted to lie so bad. "Yes. I am." She admitted softly.

"Why haven't you done anything about it?" He asked.

"What?" Again the question threw her, one heart attack and the man was a philosopher.

"After Marge died I grieved and I drank and I became lonely because I missed my wife and I wasn't ready to let anybody else in. I don't suspect that you're grieving so I guess I just don't understand why you let yourself be lonely when you don't have to be."

"You know." It was a statement.

"Yes, I do." He answered.

"Are we really that oblivious that everybody else can tell so easily and the two of us just don't?"

"No, the thing is you both know and you both have for a while. The way you act around each other you're comfortable together. When you flirt with each other the other flirts back. You perch yourself on Liv's desk and she brings you coffee. It's like a child getting rewarded for having good grades. Every time those actions are reinforced it's gasoline thrown on the fire and it keeps getting bigger and bigger."

"Okay but according to your perspective Olivia and I should be living in domestic bliss by now." Alex interrupted.

"You should be!" He paused. "The problem is, the bigger the fire gets, the more each of you wants to hold onto it out of fear that it could be destroyed, so neither of you is willing to take the next step. If this pattern continues the fire will get so big you'll both be burned." He finished.

Alex was impressed that even after the night he had his metaphor had come full circle. "You're right. Last night Serena brought to my attention that we've been idiots and I know it's time to take the next step. If y'all are right and Olivia feels the same way then I think something really special could develop between us."

"Y'all?" He questioned.

"Really that's what you take away from what I just said?" He just raised his eyebrows. "My family comes from Texas, when I'm tired…old habits." She finished lamely. "Anyways, I plan on talking to Olivia, I promise. Once I get a chance to be with her and have her full attention I'll tell her everything."

"Okay, good." He smiled at her. "Oh and just so you know, if you hurt her…"

"I'm a dead woman, I know. One of the risks you take when you fall in love with a cop I guess." Alex said matter-of-factly.

"Who's in love with a cop?" Olivia asked as she walked into the room.

_I am. _Alex thought but before she had a chance to voice anything Cragen spoke up. "Soap Opera." He said and pointed to the T.V before he flicked it off. "Everything taken care of?" He asked.

"Yes, you're good to go, or stay that is." Olivia smiled.

They stayed and chatted for another hour or so before the Captain told them they should leave so they could get some sleep, and so he could as well. "Oh.." He stopped them as they walked out. "Remember what we talked about." He said to both of them. They both nodded then looked at each other, neither knowing what the other was nodding for. Cragen laughed. "Well don't just stand there, go home, sleep, _talk_."

They both shot him a glare trying to hide their smiles. As they walked out they both made the decision that before the end of the day the other would know how they felt.


	15. The Truth

**DISCLIAMER: I own a new laptop but I don't own these characters.**

Author's note- Hey Y'all. So I know it's been forever since I graduated but I recently got my own laptop so hopefully updating will be easier. I will be graduating in about two weeks so I'll be kinda busy until then so don't hate me if I don't update right away after this. So there will be another Author's note at the bottom that will be important. Anyways, this is it, the chapter we've all been waiting for. I hope you enjoy it –Pie.

_I can do this, I can do this, I can do thi_-"Alex?" Olivia's voice pulled Alex from her little mantra.

"Yeah?" She said as she pulled her car into its parking space at her apartment building.

"You have to speak up sweetie, I can't hear you." Olivia told her.

Alex heard the term of endearment but the rest of it took her a second to process. Crap, I was talking out loud, think Cabot. "Sorry, it's nothing, just tired is all." It wasn't exactly a lie she was exhausted, which was causing her usual filters to fall out of place.

"Uh huh." Olivia wasn't completely buying it.

They got out of the car and less than five minutes later they were in Alex's apartment.

"I should probably call Serena back." Olivia said as she took out her phone.

"NO!" Alex all but yelled. "I mean there's something I want to talk to you about."

"Okay, we can talk but this will only take a minute or two and then we won't have any interruptions." Olivia looked at Alex a little oddly because of her outburst. She pulled out her phone and started punching in the numbers until she was stopped once again by Alex.

"Liv, please." The last part came out so softly Olivia wasn't even sure she heard it. She looked up from her phone to the blonde and it seemed for a moment that her heart stopped beating. The raw vulnerability in the blue eyes she adored so much amazed her. Alex wasn't one to wear her heart on her sleeve and it made Olivia pause. She quickly turned her phone off and set it on the nearby end table before directing her complete attention to Alex.

Alex reached out and grabbed Olivia's hand and pulled her toward the couch. They sat and Alex shifted so she was sitting cross legged with her back against the armrest, Olivia turned so she and Alex were face to face. It was the first time Olivia had really seen the ADA nervous and it concerned her a little bit.

"Hey, listen; there is nothing you could tell me right now that would ever change my mind about how wonderful you are okay? Unless of course you have something against Betty White, then we'd have a problem."

Alex laughed a little at Olivia's attempt to lighten the mood. "I love Betty White, and I love…" Alex trailed off and looked down at her hands.

"Sweetie," Olivia said in attempt to get Alex's attention back. "Just tell me, alright?"

Alex nodded. "I'm exhausted Liv."

"Then we can talk later, for now we'll just catch up on sleep." Olivia offered.

"That's not what I meant." Alex said. "I'm exhausted of pretending, of pretending that I'm not feeling the way I feel."

Olivia felt her heart rate pick up slightly remembering what the Captain said about Alex loving her back. She tried not to get her hopes up. "That's a little vague Lex."

"I'm lonely Liv. I come home to an empty apartment and I order in because it's useless to cook for just one person and when I see what Serena has with Casey…I want that, I mean their relationship is a little weird because Serena is a crazy person, but they love each other more than anything else."

"Are you kidding me Alex?" Olivia said in disbelief and for a second Alex's eyes shifted back to her hands. Olivia softened her tone. "You are one of the most amazing-" Olivia paused to collect her thoughts and look at Alex. "You are so incredible, there aren't words to describe how truly astonishing you are. Anybody would be blessed to have you, trust me Alex there are people lining up to get to know you, to love you."

Alex smiled. "Yeah, but there's somebody."

"You know usually we can't get you to shut up and here you go again with the vague." Olivia poked fun at her friend.

Alex chuckled at the light teasing. "I know somebody who I think can be the Casey to my Serena."

"So you'd be the crazy one in the relationship?" Olivia asked.

"As much as I'd like to say no, yeah, I would be. I mean I'm talkative and slightly narcissistic, and I can be a slight commitment-phobe and I hate spiders; I mean I really hate them, I call my doorman to kill them when I find one in my apartment."

Olivia laughed. "Okay but the person you're supposed to be with, _your_ person will not only love you in spite of those things but they'll love you in light of them. They'll find them endearing. They'll listen when you're talkative and they'll find your slight cockiness sexy instead of annoying, and when it's the right person then the commitment thing will fall into place just the way it needs to. As for spiders well that's not even a problem, not only will they kill them but they'll think it's cute that you get so worked up about it. I'm not saying it will be rainbows on fire all the time but it will be pretty damn great."

"I'm still afraid, what if she doesn't feel the same way?" Alex asked.

Olivia wasn't fazed by the use of the pronoun; most people knew that Alex tended to date members of the female persuasion. "Then she's truly insane and should be locked up." Olivia smiled slightly. "Why do you like her?" Olivia asked.

The question threw Alex off a little, she was expecting Olivia to ask who it was she liked not why she liked them. Still her answer came without much thought. "That's a very dangerous question to ask Detective, we could be here a while."

Olivia just smirked and gestured for Alex to continue.

"Well she has a huge heart; she cares about people more than anybody else I know but she's afraid to let people see so she puts up walls to protect herself. What she doesn't realize is that there is a small group of people that really do know her despite herself; I'd like to think I am included in that group." She paused checking Olivia's reaction but found nothing but genuine interest. "She's so smart in more than just the conventional ways too; she always knows the right thing to say or when it's better to just not say anything at all. And she's passionate. I mean I thought I had seen passion before, it's almost a requirement as a Cabot but it's nothing compared to her passion. When we first met we used to fight all the time and sometimes I'd initiate it just to see her eyes get fiery, I knew I'd end up giving in eventually I just wanted to see it." Alex smiled at Olivia remembering some of their best fights and how when they were done more than anything she just felt revitalized.

"That's a very Alex thing to do." Olivia said. "Getting her riled just for the sake of it."

"Yeah, well, between you and me I'm pretty sure she does the same thing. Sometimes we'll be fighting and I'll catch her looking at my lips, and other times when we're not…well let's just say there's a reason I've been wearing skirts more, I'm pretty sure she's a leg woman."

Olivia laughed. "Alexandra Cabot you sly dog. What would your mother say about this? Using your body as a tool?"

"Well if my mom knew this girl like I know this girl then I'm pretty sure she'd be showing off her body as well."

"So it runs in the family then?"

"Yes, before my dad died my mom would do silly things like that all the time. The best part was that he knew it too. Red lipstick, that was her biggest thing, my mom isn't much of a make-up person; she wears as little of it as possible but my dad always liked red lipstick so whenever he would come into a room and see her wearing it he would look at me and say "Well Goose, it looks like your mother is about to get her way. He didn't even fight it, he just knew."

Olivia smiled. She liked hearing about Alex's family, she wished she had that growing up and she was grateful that she finally had a family now as an adult.

"Anyways," Alex said after her reminiscing was done "The point is I like that she likes my legs and that she laughs jokes of mine that nobody else finds funny and she knows that I'm allergic to Tylenol so she always brings me ibuprofen instead."

Olivia was very interested by now. Not only was she a big fan of Alex's legs but she always tried to remember Alex's allergies and compensate appropriately. "It sounds like she likes you quite a bit too." Olivia said. "Why haven't you made a move?"

"I guess I'm just not used to being the one to make the first move. On the rare occasion that I do there isn't a risk in it. It's just that I value her friendship so much and if I screwed it all up by misreading the signals I would never forgive myself."

"Well from what you've told me, you're not misreading anything. Just take a chance on it and see where it goes and if she doesn't feel the same way – which she'd be crazy not to – then at least you know and if she lets that ruin your friendship then she's an ass who didn't deserve it in the first place."

"So you think I should just tell her then?" Alex asked.

"That's what I would do." Olivia said.

"So what you're saying is that if you had strong feelings for a person you would tell them if you were given the chance?" Alex asked.

Olivia knew Alex was trying to use her lawyer logic to see if Olivia would admit to her feelings before Alex would admit to her own. "I would." Olivia said. "Unless of course she beat me to it." She finished, with a challenge in her eyes.

"So if – hypothetically - I was the person you liked and I said "Olivia Benson I have a huge crush on you and it is highly likely that my feeling are more than a crush and could possibly be love" you would say what exactly?" Alex asked with a slight smirk.

Olivia laughed a little and moved a bit closer to Alex. She was positive now that Alex loved her too and decided to have a little fun with it. "Well first I would look into her eyes to make sure she was serious." Olivia said and then did just that. She heard Alex's breath catch. "Then if – hypothetically – the person _I_ liked was _you_ I would say "Alexandra Cabot you are simply amazing. I too have very strong feelings for you that can best be described as love and I would want nothing more than to explore those feelings and build a relationship with you." Olivia finished.

"So Liv?" Alex asked.

"Yes Alex?" Olivia replied.

"How do you feel about killing spiders for me from now on?"

Olivia didn't reply. Instead she moved closer to Alex and brushed their lips together lightly before grabbing her by the hand and pulling her to the bedroom.

A/N- So I'm thinking of bumping this up to an "M" rating for the next chapter but just let me know in a review what you think. I'm thinking there will only be a few chapters left until the end. Thanks guys -Pie


	16. Touch

**DISCLIAMER****: I have a exams this week but I don't have the rights to these characters. **

Author's note- I know it's been a super long time and I'm really sorry. I started my first year of college this fall and I've been super busy. This is the first time I've ever written a sex scene so bear with me. If you love it let me know, if you hate it tell me why. Sorry again for leaving it for so long. Love you guys. - Pie

Olivia woke up and looked over at the clock on the bedside table. Just after six, they had been sleeping for almost four hours. She then looked down at the sleeping blonde beside her and smiled. Only hours before they had finally admitted their feelings for each other. They had then started a heavy make-out session on Alex's bed before realizing that they had barely had anything to eat all day. Alex ordered a pizza while Olivia took a shower, after they had eaten Alex took a shower too and came out to find Olivia asleep in bed. She smiled and climbed in bed next to her friend? Girlfriend? She wasn't sure yet. She didn't think about it long though as soon as her head hit the pillow she was out. She just barely registered Olivia's arm wrapping around her before she was off in dreamland.

Now Olivia looked at the blonde and couldn't help but smile at how truly beautiful she was. She leaned down slightly and pressed a kiss to the top of Alex's head which rested on her chest.

"Mmm, hi." Alex mumbled in a sleepy voice.

"Hey." Olivia whispered back. "I didn't wake you up did I?" She asked.

"Nope." Alex said and yawed. "I've been awake for a few minutes; I was just enjoying my new pillow." She said and snuggled deeper into Olivia.

Olivia chuckled. "Is that what I am now? A pillow?" She asked.

"Well, yeah but you're a very sexy pillow if that matters at all." Alex told her.

"Hmm, well I guess sexy is good and I wouldn't mind being your pillow."

"Good because I think I'm going to keep you around."

After a few moments of silence Olivia sighed contently. "Are you still tired?" She asked while absent-mindedly running her fingers through Alex's hair.

"Not really." Alex replied. "But I like it here. In bed. With you. It's nice and warm and I don't feel like moving."

"Okay," Olivia's lips brushed Alex's forehead again. "Then we'll just stay right here."

Alex leaned up and her lips found Olivia's. Even the light contact was enough to make her moan slightly. Without breaking contact she shifted so she would have better access to Olivia. Now she lay so that she was half on her right side half on Olivia, her right hand went up to caress Olivia's face while he left went to Olivia's waist which was slightly exposed, her shirt having ridden up while they were sleeping.

Alex started drawing light circles across the tan skin under her fingertips causing Olivia to squirm a little.

"Are we a little ticklish Detective?" Alex asked against her lips.

Olivia didn't respond but instead flipped them so she was on top. She continued kissing the stunned ADA. Alex, still shocked at Olivia's action had momentarily stopped responding. Olivia ran her tongue over the blonde's bottom lip and got her attention back. Alex opened her mouth and granted her access. Olivia moved her left hand to tangle in the blonde tresses while her right arm stayed on the bed to support her weight as she hovered over the object of her affections. As their tongues met and the battled for dominance Alex's back arched so that their torsos were pushed together.

Olivia smirked and pulled back for a breath. "Don't you think you're moving a little fast counselor?" Olivia asked half teasing, half wanting to know how far Alex was going to go.

This time it was Alex who flipped them, she grabbed Olivia's hands and pinned them by her face as she straddled her midsection. "I don't think I'm moving fast at all." She said with confidence.

Olivia raised her eyebrows. "Less than twelve hours ago we were only friends and now…well we're still undefined. You don't find that fast?"

"How long have you been attracted to me?" Alex asked.

"Physically?"

"Sure." Alex answered.

"Since I first met you. You're a very beautiful women Alex." She answered honestly.

"Okay, how about emotionally?" Alex asked.

"After our second case together." Olivia answered. "We went out for drinks and you got a little tipsy and started telling me how sad you were about what happened to that little girl."

Alex cringed at the memory slightly. "So, that would be at least three years on both right?" Alex asked.

"Are you using lawyer logic to get me to sleep with you?" Olivia asked her instead of answering.

Alex rolled her eyes. "You can't answer a question with a question." She said. "So about three years?" She asked again.

"Yes, almost four." Olivia answered.

"That's not really fast now is it?"

"Okay but neither of us acted on our feelings until recently. Don't you want some time to test the new waters of whatever we are now, like maybe going on a date or something normal like that."

"Olivia," Alex shifted so she and Olivia were lying side by side facing each other. Alex took Olivia's hands in her own. "Normally I would agree with you. In this case though, you and I have been best friends for almost as long as we've known each other. I _know _you. And sure, we don't really know what this is yet but I do know that until we figure that out I won't be interested in anybody else. In fact I haven't been interested in anybody else for a while now. Being here with you feels right." Alex paused. "I want this. I want _you_. And this way at least we'll know if the sex is good." She joked.

"Are you sure?" Olivia asked. She wanted Alex just as much, but she didn't want to rush the blonde into doing anything she wasn't ready to do yet.

Alex nodded. "Please?" She whispered.

Olivia recaptured the blonde's lips in a tender kiss trying to convey all of her feelings. Her hands moved up to caress Alex's face lovingly as Alex started to gently rub Olivia's back before she started tugging at her shirt. Olivia took the hint and momentarily disconnected herself from the ADA to remove the garment. She quickly pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it to the side not caring where it landed. Alex was delighted to see that the detective hadn't put a bra on before climbing into bed earlier. Her eyes raked over the expanse of mocha skin and her eyes flashed dark with desire. She ran her hands up Olivia's sides just grazing her breasts. The detective made a small humming noise at the contact that quickly turned to a full moan when Alex attached her lips to one of the dusky nipples making slow circles with her tongue before sucking hard and moving to give attention to the other.

While her mouth worked her hands moved to Olivia's pants, slipping her fingers under the waistline in attempt to remove the offending garment. Olivia took the hint and untangled herself from the ADA. She quickly took her pants off, leaving her completely naked before grabbing at the legs of Alex's pajama bottoms and yanking leaving the attorney bottomless. Alex laughed at the action causing Olivia to smile.

Slowly Olivia climbed back onto the bed. She placed butterfly kisses on each of Alex's feet before kissing up both legs. Alex had taken it upon herself to remove her own shirt allowing Olivia to continue her trail all the way back to Alex's neck. She took the blonde's earlobe and sucked lightly before whispering to her lightly. "I love you, Alexandra."

Alex moaned at the huskiness in Olivia's voice. She felt Olivia smile as she moved to run her tongue over Alex's throbbing pulse point. The only coherent thought in her head at the moment was _"lower"_. She tugged at Olivia slightly trying to push her where she wanted her most. Olivia let out a small laugh before complying. Their nipples rubbed together as Olivia moved and they both let out gasps of pleasure. Their eyes connected for a moment and they seemed to have a silent conversation, each knowing that after this their relationship would be cemented forever. Alex gave Olivia a small smile, it was all the detective needed to continue.

She settled herself between the blonde's legs placing hot open mouthed kisses to the insides of each thigh before running her tongue up the awaiting slit. Alex's back arched at the contact. Olivia placed a hand on her hips to keep her in place. She continued slowly for a few minutes before taking Alex's clit and nipping lightly.

"Oh my – good – love – Olivia - so – good"

Olivia took the string of words as encouragement before sliding two fingers into the ADA and setting a slow pace. Alex continued to thread together incoherent sentences while pulling Olivia back towards her. Their mouths met in a hurried kiss. Alex brought one hand down and pushed two of her own fingers into Olivia causing the woman's head to drop into the crevice of her neck.

For a few minutes they each moved slowly each memorizing the feel of the other. Soon they started to rock their hips faster against each other. Olivia lifted her head so she could see Alex's face. She knew it wouldn't be long, she quickly curled her fingers hitting just the right spot and watched as Alex came hard curling her own fingers and causing Olivia to follow suit.

Olivia rolled to the side and Alex curled up next to her. They both took a few minutes to catch their breath.

"I love you, Olivia." Alex said softly.

"I love you too, Alexandra."

At some point one of them reached down and grabbed to discarded comforter, covering them both before they drifted into a deep and peaceful sleep.


	17. The End

**DISCLIAMER: I have a huge apology for you all for not updating, but I don't have any rights to these characters. **

Author's note- So, it's been about a year since I've updated, wow, sorry guys. If anybody is still paying attention to this, this is the last chapter. It has been so amazing writing this and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. I think this might be my favorite chapter so far. Thank you so much for sticking with me, you've all been great. –Pie.

**One Year Later:**

'_Ah, Home at last.'_ Olivia thought as she walked through the door of her home of almost two months.

After dating for a couple months Olivia had all but moved in with Alex, eventually letting her lease run out. Six months after that, they both decided that it was taking up too much space living with two sets of everything. Less than a week later (thanks to Serena's constant nosiness) they found the perfect little place. It was a nice little starter home which had gone into foreclosure twelve weeks prior, meaning they got a great deal on it; their bid was almost immediately accepted.

The next month and a half was spent remodeling the whole place which resulted in: three big fights, (one between Alex and Olivia about kitchen cabinets, one between Serena and Casey about why they hadn't bought a house yet, and one between Serena and the electrician who according to the ADA was "an incompetent fool who shouldn't be changing a light bulb let alone rewiring a home.") two ER trips, (the first when Munch shot himself in the ass with a nail gun while they were reframing, and the second when Elliot slipped off a ladder when they were putting new shingles on the roof.), and four hysterical breakdowns (one by Olivia who had just worked a fourteen hour shift with no coffee and couldn't get a paint can open, Alex who decided there was no longer hope in the world when the bathroom sink they custom ordered showed up cracked, one by Serena when Munch told her that her hard hat made her head look like a melon, and one by Munch after Casey told him off for making her girlfriend cry.)Finally, Alex and Olivia were able to move in and two months later they were living in what could only be described as domestic bliss, or the closest thing to it.

Now, as Olivia made her way to the master suite she knew she had just enough time to shower and change before her girlfriend made it home. Her day had been exhausting; though she had taken the day off work she had been busier than usual. Alex thought that she had been driving upstate to confer with another department, what she had really been doing was getting things in order for what she hoped would be the best proposal ever.

She had commissioned Serena the month before to help her design a ring which had turned out perfect. She had picked it up this morning. She had spent the rest of the month sneaking in secret lunches with all of the important people in their lives to gather intel.

Just as she finished buttoning her top she heard the front door close. Walking out of their room and down the hallway she found Alex in the entry way hanging up her coat.

"Hey you." Alex said without turning around.

"It's kind of scary how you do that." Olivia chuckled as she moved closer and wrapped her arms around the blonde from behind.

"Mmm, you shuffle your feet just a little bit, it gives you away." Alex said as she snuggled into the embrace.

Olivia gave one last squeeze before she pulled away so that Alex could face her. "Are you up for a little adventure tonight?" She asked. Olivia had been planning 'little adventures' for a while now to keep the ADA off her trail, most of the time they involved a trip to one of their favorite eateries, although there had also been few movies and one rather interesting laser tag incident that got them banned for life after Alex made a four year old cry.

"With you? Always. Let me change real quick 'kay?" She gave Olivia a quick peck as she moved toward their bedroom. "You know I've been thinking and after a little time in the law library I think there might be a way to get us back into that laser tag place."

Olivia let out a loud laugh as she followed Alex, lounging on the bed while Alex explored her closet. "I'm sure we can just find some other place if you really feel the need to make toddlers cry." Olivia joked.

"Hey! That kid was just a wuss, Fletcher would have totally laughed in my face if I said the same thing to him."

"Yes, but honey, our nephew is a Cabot, it's in his genes to be just as competitive and argumentative as you are."

Alex got the warm and fuzzies when Olivia referred to Fletch as _their_ nephew. "I suppose you might be right." She said in an exasperated tone.

"Yes, I am. Now let's get a move on, I promised Mary that we'd make a stop by the hospital to drop her off some dinner."

"Olivia Benson: detective by day, dinner deliverer by night!"

"Let's go blondie!"

"Aye Aye captain!"

Thirty minutes later they walked hand and hand into the nurse's lounge.

"My two favorite girls!" Mary said upon seeing them.

Olivia handed her the bag of food they had picked up on the way. "For our favorite nurse." She said.

"You're a Godsend." Mary said before digging in. "Three more hours and then I am done for the next two weeks!" She said with a grin.

"I still can't believe you got the captain to agree to a Mediterranean cruise." Alex said with disbelief.

"What can I say, I can be very persuasive when I want to be."

"Don't we know it."

After chatting for a while Olivia and Alex left. "You know," Olivia said as she pulled Alex to a stop. "this is the place where our epic romance began."

"It is." Alex agreed as she looked into the waiting room they were standing next to.

"I'm so happy that we found each other." Olivia said genuinely.

"Happy doesn't even begin to describe it." Alex replied as she placed a quick peck on Olivia's lips.

Finally, knowing the seed had been planted; Olivia tugged on their joined hands and dragged them back to her waiting car where the events of the night would really begin.

They drove in comfortable silence for a while before Alex began to get antsy.

"Would you like to inform me of where we're going?" She asked.

"Nope." Olivia replied simply.

Knowing it was pointless to try to argue; Alex sat back and took in their surroundings for clues.

"Wait, I know this drive. This is the way to my family's beach house!" Alex exclaimed.

"One of these days I'm going to surprise you." Olivia chuckled; she figured Alex would figure it out eventually. "We've both been working hard lately, and I thought a weekend up here might be nice. I packed our bags before you got home."

Alex smiled. "You're kind of perfect you know."

"I'm glad you think so." Olivia said as she gave Alex's hand a squeeze.

It wasn't much longer before they pulled into the driveway of the Cabot's lake house, the sun was just beginning its descent. Olivia popped the trunk as she got out. "Why don't you head down to the lake, while I bring these bags in and order us something from Sophia's?"

"Are you sure? I can help with the bags and then we can walk down together."

"Go, I'll be right down I promise." Olivia said hoping Alex didn't argue and ruin her plan.

"Okay, if you insist."

"I do." The brunette gathered their things and made her way toward the house while Alex moved to the walkway that led to the beach. As Alex rounded the corner of the house she gasped. Paper lanterns were strung to hang the rest of the way to the beach. As she moved further she noticed little notes left every few feet, being held in place with beach glass. She reached the first one and bent to pick it up, immediately recognizing the handwriting as her best friend's.

_Alex,_

_You've been my best friend since the day you punched Luke Taylor for pushing me off the swing set in preschool. _

Alex chuckled remembering her four year old self doing just that.

_I've grown with you; I've laughed with you, and cried with you. I found the love of my life in your office three years ago, and I was there to witness you finding yours. You've been the best sister I could ever ask for and I know you will be the best aunt to my kids, starting with baby Novak, who should arrive sometime this April._

Alex gasped, as she re-read that line a few times.

_I love you and Olivia both so much, _

_Serena_

She held the letter close to her heart before moving on to the next. Olivia watched from the deck, as Alex read through all of the letters, from everybody close to them, Elliot, Liz, Fin, Munch, Mary, Cragen, her Mother, her sister and brother, even little Fletcher. Finally, she reached the end of the trail and came to a small television. A sticky note on it informed her that she needed to press play on the adjoining VCR. When Olivia saw the screen flick to life she began to make her way down.

"_Alexandra!"_ A voice she never thought she'd hear again came from the speakers a second before her father's face appeared. The hand that wasn't holding all of the letters flew to her face as she covered her mouth.

"_Hello my darling, if you're watching this it means that we are no longer together. I'm sorry that I can't be with you any longer but c'est la vie n'est pas? Listen to me, my darling girl. You are one of the most amazing souls that I have ever had the great pleasure to encounter; being your dad, and your brother and sister's dad has been the greatest experience of my life, as I'm sure your mother would agree. You are going to change this world. "Kid you'll move mountains!"" _He bellowed the classic Dr. Seuss line. _"I know you will find somebody just as amazing to help you move all of your mountains. I want you to know that it's okay to ask for help my darling. We humans, we have this false impression that it makes us weak, but there is no greater strength in the world than loving somebody so much that we allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough to ask for what we need. If it weren't for your mother, I wouldn't be an eight of the person I am today. I love you my darling girl." _He pressed his fingers to his mouth and blew the camera a kiss before the picture faded away and the screen went blue.

Alex just stood there for a minute, while tears rolled down her face. Never had she dreamed that she would see her dad again.

"You can play it again if you want to."

Olivia's voice behind her started her and she turned. "Liv…" She whispered. Reaching out, she placed a hand against her lover's cheek.

Olivia moved her hand to fit on top of Alex's as she gave her a crooked grin.

"How?" Alex asked.

"You're mother gave it to me, she said he recorded one for all of you. I have one too; he made one for future spouses as well. I haven't watched it yet; I wanted to wait until I knew."

"Knew what?" Alex asked.

"That it belonged to me." Olivia said as she moved to kneel.

Alex gasped as she reached out. Olivia took her hands in her own. "Alex, my whole life I've felt like I've been in some kind of waiting place. I waited to be old enough to have some independence from my mother, I waited to be promoted to detective, I waited for a time when my job didn't break my heart, and a year ago I waited while the closest thing I had to a father came back to life. When I'm with you, I don't feel like I'm waiting anymore. When I'm with you I know that I don't have to be alone anymore, I have somebody to move through my life with. I never want to go back to that waiting place. I want to continue to grow with you. Alexandra Cabot, will you marry me?"

Alex tugged on the hand that enclosed her own pulling Olivia to her feet. "My father proposed to my mother here. That's why they built this house here."

"I know, she told me." Olivia said, still waiting for an answer.

"My dad told me that he proposed here because he knew she couldn't say no with the salty air clouding her brain."

Olivia laughed. "What about your brain? Is it cloudy?"

"Nope." Alex said.

Olivia's face fell a little.

"My brain is clear as day."

"What does that mean?" Olivia asked softly.

"It means that I'm going to marry the love of my life." Alex whispered back.

"Is that a yes?" Olivia asked.

"I could never say no to you."

"Say it." Olivia prodded.

"Yes, Olivia Benson, I will marry you."

Olivia lit up as she leaned forward to capture her new fiancés lips. She pulled back and rested her forehead against Alex's. "I'm really glad you said that, otherwise this weekend would have been really awkward."

Alex laughed. "I love you Olivia.

"I love you too Alexandra.


End file.
